Postcard Friendship Friday: Into the Storm

Welcome to another "Postcard Friendship Friday". In today's entry, I will use an Edmund Fitzgerald postcard I used in a post a couple of months ago. Instead of being a photo, it is of a painting. It is a modern-era postcard sold commonly in stores. The anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald on Nov 10, 1975 was just a few days ago. The postcard painting must be of a time shortly before the waves in the "Gales of November" overcame the boat.

It happens that I am also reading the book "The Perfect Storm" by Sebastian Junger. Many will remember the movie with George Clooney. Mark Walhberg was also in it, as was William Fichtner, who achieved fame later as the relentless FBI agent in the "Prison Break" TV show.

In the part of the book I am in now, the fishing boat Andrea Gail is just about to set out, and many of the fishermen, wives, and girlfriends have had strong premonitions premonitions that the expedition will go bad. One of the crew members has already backed out of the expedition entirely.

As the Andrea Gale is about to set out in the book, I am reminded of lyrics from an old Peter Gabriel song:

"They shout and then we leave the harbour.
In doubt, they're acting weird.
And the sea is whipping up a welcome
If hell come we're all easy prey,
Trying to find a way
to make it alive,,,'"


The doomed crew of the Andrea Gail did not shout as they left the harbor, but there is plenty of "In doubt, they're acting wierd" mentioned in the book.

On Peter Gabriel's first album after leaving Genesis (way back in the mid 1970s), there was a song called "Down the Dolce Vita". It might be my favorite of his solo songs, and there are many great ones on the album. It is bombastic, operatic song that appears to be about some men about to sail into a storm from which they might never come back.

According to Wikipedia, it is a remnant from the story of a failed movie idea called Mozo:

"Earlier in his solo career, Gabriel had an idea for a movie, Mozo. In it, villagers were punished for their sins with a blood red rain. "Red Rain" was to be the theme song. This idea was eventually scrapped, although there was a mention of Mozo in the song "On the Air" in Peter Gabriel (II). Down The Dolce Vita, Here Comes The Flood, Exposure, and Big Blue Ball are also reference the Mozo story, as well."

Another web page says:

"This introduced the characters Aeron and Gorham, who set out on a journey across the sea. They would become part of Gabriel's story of Mozo, a mercurial stranger who would come and go, changing people's lives. Mozo would appear in "On The Air," "Exposure", "Red Rain," "Down The Dolce Vita," and "That Voice Again," but the Mozo story as a stage production or movie never developed."

Searching for more comments comes up with this reference buried in this web page:

"Down The Dolce Vita: This song is massive... truely. :o Reminds me of The War of the Worlds in a curious way, though."

Yes, I can see that, definitely. There is a song called "Thunder Child" in "Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds" (see my previous post). In "Thunder Child", a ship sets out to a certain doom. Not against a storm this time, but against wading Martian tripods blocking a harbor. The vintage photo view below is from the Door in the Wall blog. Well, actually a real tow ram of the Victorian era, HMS Polyphemus , a ship similar to the fictional Thunder Child.


There is also a video that attempts to set scenes from "Heroes" to the song


The entire lyrics for "Down the Dolce Vita" follow. I tried to find a good sailing-ship-in-a-storm postcard to illustrate the Dolce Vita, perhaps a sailing ship, going off into the storm. Below to the right you will find a postcard (probably a hundred years old) of a vintage view of a ship, alongside the Peter Gabriel lyrics. It is supposedly as seen seen from the Boardwack at Atlantic City. If I were on thje boardwalk and saw this, I'd run away fast as to not have the waves or the looming ship crash into me.

'Hey Mac, see you down the Dolce Vita!
'Get back, we don't have time
'Cos I hear we're sending off the heroes
When the year goes, they're out of the bay,
Trying to find a way
to make it alive'
'So long' said poor men to their families,
be strong 'til we get back home.
And if not, take care of all the children
Until then just hope and pray
We're gonna find a way
to make it alive'
'You guys are crazy'
They shout and then we leave the harbour.
In doubt, they're acting weird.
And the sea is whipping up a welcome
If hell come we're all easy prey,
Trying to find a way
to make it alive'
'You guys are crazy'
The captain's hand shook for the guys to get in place
He said, 'Let's look behind your face.'
With each corner covered, they were all around
Waiting for the midnight bell to sound
'Out of sight, cried Aeron through his glasses
'Don't fight' said Gorham's smioulder
I was scared of being easy prey,
Trying to find a way
to make it alive'

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Addendum: At Michael's suggestion, here is a link to Billy Joel's "Downeaster Alexa".