“I Know Boats” by Mannick, the “sailing” song that is a splendid ode to life
THE PERFECT GIFT!
Give or treat yourself to a subscription to the print + digital Journal of Sailing and for only 69 euros a year you get the magazine at home plus read it on your PC, smartphone and tablet. With a sea of advantages.
In one of our web pilgrimages, searching for news, we came across a wonderful song written by French singer-songwriter Mannick (Marie Annick Retif) and dedicated to Jacques Brel (to whom it has been mistakenly attributed several times), “Je connais des bateaux” (“I know boats”), which we are sure you will appreciate.
The song, from the album “Le temps de l’amour” (1977), is a hymn to living life without ever backing down or procrastinating, and Mannick uses a “sailing” metaphor.
The lyrics, translated into Italian, go something like this, at the bottom we refer you to the song on Youtube:
I know of boats
Who stay in the harbor out of fear
That the currents drag them away too violently.
I know of boats rusting in the harbor
For never risking a sail out.
I know boats that forget to leave
Are afraid of the sea as they grow old
And the waves never took them anywhere else,
Their journey ended before it even began.
I know boats that are so chained
Who have unlearned how to free themselves.
I know of boats that stay swaying
To be really sure not to capsize.
I know of boats that go in groups
To face the strong wind beyond fear.
I know of boats that get a little scratched up.
On ocean routes where their game takes them.
I know of boats
That they never stopped coming out once again,
every day of their lives
And who are not afraid at times to launch themselves
Side by side forward at risk of sinking.
I know of boats
Returning to port torn all over,
But braver and stronger.
I know boats overflowing with sunshine
Because they shared wonderful years.
I know of boats
Who always return when they have sailed.
Until their last day,
And they are ready to spread their wings of giants.
Because they have an ocean-sized heart.
LISTEN TO THE SONG
Share:
Check out the latest issue
Are you already a subscriber?
Ultimi annunci
Our social
Sign up for our Newsletter
We give you a gift
Sailing, its stories, all boats, accessories. Sign up now for our free newsletter and receive the best news selected by the Sailing Newspaper editorial staff each week. Plus we give you one month of GdV digitally on PC, Tablet, Smartphone. Enter your email below, agree to the Privacy Policy and click the “sign me up” button. You will receive a code to activate your month of GdV for free!
You may also be interested in.
Transat Café l’Or: final rush for Imoca, brutal conditions for Class 40s
Day 11 of the Transat Café l’Or, with the Imoca 60s approaching the race’s final throes and dropped below the 1,000-mile mark from the finish line, and the Class 40s instead in the midst of a strategic gamble that split
The Caribbean is calling you! Nanny Cay Marina expands…
Nanny Cay Marina, the beating heart of boating in the British Virgin Islands, expands to offer state-of-the-art services to sailors and catamaran enthusiasts, with new berths, a giant Travelift and luxury amenities. An invitation to realize your dream of sailing
“Parsifal,” 30 years later: the night that changed Italian sailing
On the night of November 2, 1995, the sea in the Gulf of Lion swallowed the cutter “Parsifal” and six men of its crew. Thirty years later, that tragedy continues to teach respect and humility before the power of the
Classic Boat Cult | Polluce, the Navy’s Half Tonner rebirth
On the stern of all 223 sailboats of the Navy appears an inscription: S.V.M.M. It has been so for a good 90 years. In fact, it was 1935 when, by Ministerial Order Sheet, the Sport Velico Marina Militare, a legacy
