I love this song, but I don't think it's really about a life at sea. I think this song is about someone fantasizing about a life at sea. All of the references are fictional and the imagery is dreamlike. There is nothing about real sailors or sailing.
Martin Eden and Captain Ahab are characters from novels, and "Shiver me timbers!" is a pirate exclamation from movies and TV (in the novel Treasure Island, they say "Shiver my timbers"). "Can't fathom my stayin'" is a play on words, as if the guy wants to use all the nautical jargon he's come across. It reminds me of the end of "9th & Hennepin":
"I've seen it all... through the yellow windows of the evening train."
Contrast this with the specificity and loneliness in the lyrics of "Shore Leave".
I love this song, but I don't think it's really about a life at sea. I think this song is about someone fantasizing about a life at sea. All of the references are fictional and the imagery is dreamlike. There is nothing about real sailors or sailing.
Martin Eden and Captain Ahab are characters from novels, and "Shiver me timbers!" is a pirate exclamation from movies and TV (in the novel Treasure Island, they say "Shiver my timbers"). "Can't fathom my stayin'" is a play on words, as if the guy wants to use all the nautical jargon he's come across. It reminds me of the end of "9th & Hennepin":
"I've seen it all... through the yellow windows of the evening train."
Contrast this with the specificity and loneliness in the lyrics of "Shore Leave".