Ride Captain Ride

The song was inspired by the number of keys on Pinera's Rhodes piano: So I say, "Okay, I need a first word." And what came into my head was 73. I liked the rhythm, and I went, "73 men sailed in, from the San Francisco Bay." ... The song sort of just wrote itself from there.[1] —Mike Pinera

Anyone can make whatever they want from any lyrics, and it's not wrong or right. But if you are trying to discern what the author was thinking, then this is not about a spy ship, nor old world explorers. There isn't much here other than a vague thought of sailing away to a new world, whether that world is physically a new place and/or just a new mental outlook. That was a very popular thought in the 60's and early 70's (and generally throughout history). I don't know if the timing works out, but there was a popular song about raindrops falling on my head, as well as Who'll Stop the Rain by CCR, so that could have prompted the rain drops line. There were songs about San Francisco being a new consciousness or a new beginning. As the author states, the 73 number came from keys on a new electronic piano that had fewer than the acoustic pianos. Of course, the Beatles made a Magical Mystery Tour. So I believe the author, who admits he wrote it sort of on the fly just took bits floating around in his head and threw them together in a general theme of seeking a new reality, and there really aren't a lot of words to the song. I think people get hung up on the number 73 and think it must have special meaning, but more often than not, these authors are writing hundreds of songs and often don't dwell very long. Once they are famous they likely put in more effort, but this band was not famous and was being told to hurry up and get out of the studio.

great song.

I believe this song is about the USS Pueblo. This was an American Navy ship manned by communications technicians with secret equipment. the ship was stationed very near the coast of North Korea in 1968 and was monitoring communications from the North Korean military. The captain of the ship Lloyd Bucher was not a communications technician and he war odered to a certain location and when the ship was attacked by the North Koreans he and his crew were abandoned by the U S Navy. They were held as POWs for almost a year.

I was thinking the song was set in the 1800's in the gold rush or earlier era..... no particular reason for that line of thought.

However the above explanation is plausible as the song was written about 1968-1969 ie. immediatekly after the event described.

PS: The US Pueblo had a crew of 83 men (one was killed in the incident). This song references 73 men.

So I'm none the wiser about this song's meaning. I'ts really bugging me cause it's such a great sounding tune.

Please Mr Mike Panera could you explain..........

The whole "too busy watchin' those old raindrops fall" part references BJ Thomas' version of Burt Bacharach's song "Rain Drops Keep Fallin' On My Head," another single from 1970.

HarleyRider is correct.seventy three keys on the piano.refer to wikipedia.google for the meaning of any song.Twas brilley the slivey cove.

There were seventy-three keys on Mike Pinera's Rhodes (electric) piano.

I always thought it was about Jerry Garcia, aka Capt Trips, ergo references to SF, and lyrics in the chorus ("upon your mystery ship, be amazed at the friends you're having on your trip," "on your way to a world that others might have missed"); also line in verse: "we're callin' everyone to ride along/to another shore/we can laugh our lives away/and be free once more" - all of it could certainly be about LSD experience. Not sure how lyrics can apply to Pueblo situation?

I might be wrong, just my 2 cents