Seal Driver Lyrics
I have two hundred diesel horses thundering loud.
Sea birds call your name and the mountain's on fire
As the summer lightening cuts the sky like a hot wire.
And you ride on the swell and your heart is alive,
Think I'll make you my seal driver.
I'll give you a steady push on a six knot simmering high tide.
I can hold us down keep our head to the wind,
Or let us roll on the broadside, cold spray flying in,
And we'll ride on the swell and our hearts are alive.
Let me make you my seal driver.
Follow white flecked spindrift float on a moonkissed sea.
Or a longship Viking warrior with the old gods on his side?
Well I'm a midshoreman and I'm nobody's hero,
But I'll make you tight for a windy night and a dark ride.
Let me take you in hand and bring you alive.
Going to make you my seal driver.
A seal driver is a boat. Up in the Shetlands they still hunted seals into the 70s. A seal driver would herd the seals up onto the beach where the hunters could get to them. The water around the Shetlands is very rough, very dangerous, and the sealers were famously sentimental about their boats. I think that by the time Ian wrote this the last of the seal drivers had been retired but he captured the feeling of driving seals in an open boat with a big diesel roaring.
As a long Ian Anderson infatuant, I can tell you this is a beautiful love song. He is telling his lady how beautiful she is (sea birds call your name, and the mountains on fire) and how well she lights his world (lightning strikes like a hot wire) and he needs a seal driver. A hunting boat needs a crewman, standing on the bow, to tell the captain which direction the seals are swimming. If you\'ve ever stood on the bow, with waves undulating the ship, fine mist on your face,,,uh, I digress.\n But, he says, "I\'m no great looker, I\'m no fast-shakes" so, I\'m not this handsome pirate or a Viking warrior. "But I\'ll captain you if you crew for me" and away they\'ll float on a moon kissed sea,,,how romantic!?! Sexual innuendo, Ian Anderson\'s forte, is riddled throughout, let me take you in hand, and I\'ll bring you alive,,,you ride on the swell, and your heart is alive,,,yup! Count me in! Beautiful Love Song!
I don't know about that one but I like this song because everyone has always called me pirate. I think it is about a ship's captain looking for a mate. And it's 'well I'm a midshoreman and I'm nobody's hero.'
Well, the album itself seems to have a theme of reality vs. fantasy, and this song seems to go along with that. To me it seems to be about the romantic fantasy of captaining a ship on the sea, and how appealing it seems to someone who's never been a hero.
no the seal driver is old norse mythology you guys and gals they were harnessed together and on tethers and by old folklore a maiden rode them with a whip not to be messed with on the high seas but also tull sings about the 200 hundred diesel horses so in my opinion the seal driver is the name of a simple boat with long history and tull has once again after trains has captured the essence of deep high sea travel in his lyrics once again the man ian anderson is a master of lyrics watching the world go by watching him watching you
Interesting that a google search on "Seal Driver" turns up a type of machine tool, which can be made by hand/lathe if you have the right bits. I suspect this is Mr Anderson's sense of humour, turning the name of a machine tool (for a deisel engine???) into some kind of folk personification. He probably needs a seal driver to make sure his boat works OK.