I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
I can well recall the first time I ever put to sea
It was on the old 'Calcutta' in 1853
I was just a lad of fourteen years, a midshipman to be
To make my way in sailing ships of the Royal Navy
By the time that I was twenty-one I'd sailed the world around
Weathered storms in the China seas with the hatches battened down
And made my way by starlight off the coast of Newfoundland
And dined on beer and herrings while the waves blew all around
I live in retirement now
And through my window comes the sound of seagulls
And sets my mind remembering
The evening stars like memories sail far beyond the distant trees
Way out across the open seas
I hear them sing
Oh the wooden ships they turned to iron and the iron ships to steel
And shed their sails like autumn leaves with the turning of the wheel
And I was given captain's rank and soon took under me
The proudest ship that ever sailed for queen and country
Ah, the old queen she passed away with the new born century
And I received my calling up to the admiralty
The sands ran through the hourglass each day more rapidly
As we watched the growing of the fleets of high Germany
So at last the Great War blazed
I waited with the passing days
The call to arms that never came
Writing letters
I may be old now in your eyes
But all my years have made me wise
You don't see where the danger lies
Oh call me back, call me back
But the war it ran its course, they could find no use for me
And I live in the country now, grandchildren on my knee
And sometimes think in all this world the saddest thing to be
Old admirals who feel the wind, and never put to sea
Now just like you I've sailed my dreams like ships across the sea
And some of them they've come on rocks, and some faced mutiny
And when they're sunken one by one I'll join that company
Old admirals who feel the wind, and never put to sea
It was on the old 'Calcutta' in 1853
I was just a lad of fourteen years, a midshipman to be
To make my way in sailing ships of the Royal Navy
By the time that I was twenty-one I'd sailed the world around
Weathered storms in the China seas with the hatches battened down
And made my way by starlight off the coast of Newfoundland
And dined on beer and herrings while the waves blew all around
I live in retirement now
And through my window comes the sound of seagulls
And sets my mind remembering
The evening stars like memories sail far beyond the distant trees
Way out across the open seas
I hear them sing
Oh the wooden ships they turned to iron and the iron ships to steel
And shed their sails like autumn leaves with the turning of the wheel
And I was given captain's rank and soon took under me
The proudest ship that ever sailed for queen and country
Ah, the old queen she passed away with the new born century
And I received my calling up to the admiralty
The sands ran through the hourglass each day more rapidly
As we watched the growing of the fleets of high Germany
So at last the Great War blazed
I waited with the passing days
The call to arms that never came
Writing letters
I may be old now in your eyes
But all my years have made me wise
You don't see where the danger lies
Oh call me back, call me back
But the war it ran its course, they could find no use for me
And I live in the country now, grandchildren on my knee
And sometimes think in all this world the saddest thing to be
Old admirals who feel the wind, and never put to sea
Now just like you I've sailed my dreams like ships across the sea
And some of them they've come on rocks, and some faced mutiny
And when they're sunken one by one I'll join that company
Old admirals who feel the wind, and never put to sea
Lyrics submitted by webmasterdee
Old Admirals Lyrics as written by Alistair Ian Stewart
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This song is pretty straight forward in its interpretation. It is from the POV of an admiral in the English royal navy. He had been sailing the world since he was boy in 1853 and became captain around the time the ships changed from wood to steel. He became admiral at the turn of the century just after Queen Victoria died. He watched as Germany's power grew in the early 1900s, but by the time WWI broke out he was too old serve in the Navy during the War. "Oh call me back" is referring to him asking to serve during the war arguing that he is old but wiser and more experienced than the younger ship captains. But he never fought in the war. The narrator is telling the story sometime after WWI but before WWII. By then he's a retired grandfather who misses the sea.
@drakus1173 :\r\nI agree with your interpretation 100% but it also has overtones to me of the elderly gentlemen in smart blue blazers who promenade the seafronts of England with a saucy eye for any passing young man : "Old admirals who feel the wind, and never put to sea" :-)
It's more or less about Jackie Fisher, the admiral who led the Dreadnought revolution and dominated the Royal Navy in the run-up to WW1. It's also about growing old and having regrets about life. The last verse is just heartbreaking:
Now just like you I've sailed my dreams like ships across the sea
And some of them they've come on rocks, and some faced mutiny
And when they're sunken one by one I'll join that company
Old admirals who feel the wind, and never put to sea