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The Ballad of John Franklin

from King Content by The Grammar Club

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about

I originally started writing this track ages ago, after learning about the Franklin Expedition way back in my college days. I had a morbid fascination with the doomed voyage, and so decided to write a trite, morbid ballad about it, tongue firmly planted in cheek. But I never got around to really finishing it. And then years went by.
A few months back when Shael and the boys was setting up an internet radio station for The Grammar Club, we talked about what to put on said radio station. Shael wanted it to be mostly if not exclusively vocal music, as in, no instrumentals. Well 98% of my back catalog is instrumental music. So partly in jest, and partly because I am about as mature as your average middle schooler in a petty act of rebellion, I surreptitiously added my original 10 year old Ballad of John Franklin demo to the radio station's playlist.

But then Shael heard it. And decided he really liked it, and put it into heavy rotation. And then random listeners heard it, and they too liked it.

But it was an old, incomplete song. Not wanting to leave it hanging, I tapped Tanner for the arduous task of re-arranging and updating it. And a bangup job he did. But if somehow that weren't enough, Beefy and Sean lent their immeasurable talents as well.

Truth told I have no illusions about being a particularly good rapper. Or singer. Or lyricist. But I'll be damned if that's going to stop me. Hah!

-Ty

lyrics

Find me a way to get back to shore
I can't feel my hands anymore
I'm frostbitten for sure

Now it begins my heart's slowing down
I fear I'm beginning to drown
I'm frozen to the core

It first began when we started to the north
And lost track of our heading
When the winds blew us off course

But no remorse
Headed back to the source
Of the force
That guides the compass
Towards the lands of the Norse

And of course we were prepared
Or so we had thought
But we soon realized
It was all for naught
When her majesty's Erebus
Found it was caught
In the icepack closing in
And the death that it brought

But this was not the end for ship or the crew
Two years of hell for the men and for me too
The first ones died when they went looking for food
They made a meal for the rest:
Desperation human meat stew

Over the months the tragedy would unfold
And as time passed on the arctic circle swallowed us whole
It's like you've been told about the cold
It's a cover for the reaper
While he claims the young and the old

Find me a way to get back to shore
I can't feel my hands anymore
I'm frostbitten for sure

Now it begins my heart's slowing down
I fear I'm beginning to drown
I'm frozen to the core

Oh Captain my captain
How could you not stop this from happening?
No longer laughing, mermaids and krakens
Underreacting, mutiny amassing
Part of the globe where the lord doesn't speak
Plot a course where the Earth moves in sheets
Surviving life at the edge of our seats
Reach pearly gates if my soul doesn't freeze
Question every decision that led here
I was told we would sing songs and drink beer
All I'm knowing is frostbite and deep fear
Somebody please take me home I don't belong here
I didn't think that it would end like this
We were gonna find the trail that would cause a shift
But instead we cold and bloated as we float adrift
Tell the others to treat every day like it's a gift

Find me a way to get back to shore
I can't feel my hands anymore
I'm frostbitten for sure

Now it begins my heart's slowing down
I fear I'm beginning to drown
I'm frozen to the core

credits

from King Content, released January 2, 2019
Beefy - Lyrics, Vocals
Sean - Additional Arrangement, Guitar
Tanner - Primary Arrangement, Production, Mixing, Mastering
Ty - Original Demo/Music, Lyrics, Vocals

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The Grammar Club New York, New York

Above art by Hex (zombiehiphophex.deviantart.com)

Album art by Ricky Henry and Joe Dunn

Additional site art by Art League Houston

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