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High Tide in Alaska Lyrics
The Aleutian lies
decaying
and decrepeit
at the bottom
of the Bering Strait.
The force of the waves
was too much for its walls,
but the captain called for more.
"Pour on another eighty thousand pounds," he cried,
"C'mon, bring it on.
Bring on another eighty thousand pounds to our already full load
so I can watch their suffocating bodies
make one final gasp at freedom before we tear those
motherfuckers apart."
As the ship sank to the bottom,
the attack took nine unexpected, nine human lives, and it's labeled
a tragedy. I call it revenge. Sweep your water across the hull; I can't stomach the sight.
decaying
and decrepeit
at the bottom
of the Bering Strait.
was too much for its walls,
but the captain called for more.
"Pour on another eighty thousand pounds," he cried,
Bring on another eighty thousand pounds to our already full load
so I can watch their suffocating bodies
motherfuckers apart."
As the ship sank to the bottom,
a tragedy. I call it revenge. Sweep your water across the hull; I can't stomach the sight.
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This song is about how 9 people died as a result of corporate malfeasance.
The Aleutian Enterprise was a fish processing boat owned by Arctic Alaska.
"The ship was nearly full of frozen fish when the 28-year-old skipper, Mark Siemons, had his crew pull up the last catch before going home. The net was so full it split, spilling tons of fish onto the deck." (Eric Nalder, Seattle Times)
"'Pour on another eighty thousand pounds,' he cried" was a reference to the captain's decision to pull up one last load of fish.
That may have been the catalyst but it was not the underlying reason why the ship sunk. There was a hole on the side of the ship used as a garbage chute that was secured only by a steel flap. So when the last load came up, it tiled the ship to one side, causing water to flood through the garbage hole, trapping and killing 9 people.
Before this incident, Arctic Alaska had been dodging attempts to enforce regulations regarding load lines (which would have saved the 9 workers' lives), fighting with the Coast Guard who, themselves, were not properly enforcing the law. Just a year previously, the Coast Guard inspected the Aleutian and found violations but decided to allow the ship to operate while the company appealed the requirements. After the appeals failed, the Coast Guard did nothing. 6 months later, 9 people died.
The law required "Every opening between the waterline and the designated weather deck must have at least one, and usually two, watertight closures." The steel flap was far from watertight. The workers desperately tried to plug the hole but it was impossible. They died because the company refused to follow the law and put proper safety measures in place. The captain's decision gets the most attention in the song lyrics but, while it may have been a bad decision, it wasn't as consequential as the company's decision to ignore safety regulations.
The company's lies are infuriating. Apparently the law applies only to fish processing ships and not fishing ships, so the company tried to say it was just a fishing ship, even though the Coast Guard found processing equipment and other evidence of processing when they inspected the ship. They even tried to blame the dead workers for cracking the hull, even though there was no evidence to suggest such a thing. Just trying to cover their asses instead of taking responsibility for causing 9 deaths.
Maybe the most infuriating part is that the owner was prosecuted for conspiracy, lying to the Coast Guard, and involuntary manslaughter. And he was acquitted of all charges.
9 people die, a capitalist gets richer. Chris Leo wrote this amazing song about it probably because he was as infuriated about it then as I am now.
Look, this is how capitalism works. This is what happens when you give a tiny minority ultimate power over all workers--they will use their power to get rich off of the lives of their workers, even literally sacrificing workers for the larger goal of maintaining profit margin. This kind of thing happens a lot, most recently when four people died during a tornado in an Amazon warehouse after being told they were not allowed to leave.
The solution: democracy. Democracy in government, in communities, and in the workplace. No more capitalists dominating and controlling us. The workplace should be owned and controlled not by rich people but by everybody who works in it. One worker, one vote. Then our system will be driven by human concerns and interests. Right now, our system is totally driven by profit for a few. This happened because the company--the owners, the executives, the managers--decided not to abide by safety regulations. If the workers had the power to make that decision, do you think they would have decided to endanger all of their lives just to make a few extra bucks? Wouldn't have happened. That's why the solution here is democracy.
By the way, what I just described is actually called "socialism". [GASP] "Democratic socialism" is redundant. Socialism = democracy. Democracy = socialism. We need to move beyond capitalism as soon as possible, and socialism is the only reasonable way forward.
in the beginning he yells "murder" 8 times in a row, and in the end, he first yells "murder " 4 times and then 4 times "revenge." i think this is one of the most awesome songs ever, and the lyrics are way better than most shitty emo-pop lyrics you see these days.
i think this is one of the best singers in hc\ emo ever. so intense and passionate
Really amazing artist. Not sure if you're aware but he went on to do other stuff including in the Van Pelt, another amazing emo band.
Really amazing artist. Not sure if you're aware but he went on to do other stuff including in the Van Pelt, another amazing emo band.
i love it when he screams between the verses.
@DarkerShadeofWinter MURDER!
@DarkerShadeofWinter MURDER!
is he always yelling "revenge" in between the verses?
agreed, dude.
I think this song is about war.
this band was really great, the whole discography, just amazing
i thought this song was about the whaling industry: a ship is getting destroyed in a storm ("the force of the waves was too much for its walls") but the captain is greedy and wants to take in another catch ("pour on another eighty thousand pounds") naturally the ship sinks and people die
i think a whale would weigh about 80,000 lbs? it really paints a gruesome picture of how sick the captain is, see loves to see the whales (or whatever) suffering and all
i don't know if this a based on a real event, or is just a story made up, but either way it gets the point across
why don't people make music like this anymore? this stuff is awesome
"The Aleutian" was an Alaskan fishing ship.
The fish bins were already at capacity but the captain decided to try and take on another cod end (gigantic net-load of fish; "...another 80,000 pounds to our already full load")
Little to NO safety training had been provided to the crew.
9 of the 31 crew members died.
Do some research.
@glassrockboy You're correct, but extremely sanctimonious about it so I'm going to have to make a better version. Next time, after you do research, just tell us what your findings are. Telling us to "do some research" is completely unhelpful and it makes no sense anyway since you already did the research and relayed it to us. Why you felt the need to throw that malicious line in there at the end is beyond me.
@glassrockboy You're correct, but extremely sanctimonious about it so I'm going to have to make a better version. Next time, after you do research, just tell us what your findings are. Telling us to "do some research" is completely unhelpful and it makes no sense anyway since you already did the research and relayed it to us. Why you felt the need to throw that malicious line in there at the end is beyond me.