If you write enough songs, eventually you write about the sea. A hybrid ripoff of both 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' and 'Gilligan's Isle', the chorus of this tune popped into my head one day while playing guitar. I then began to try and figure out what the rest of the song would be about. In the back of my mind, I had this vague idea of this being a sort of simple singalong, like you'd find the Chieftains doing in some Irish pub. A 788 recording, with 16 total tracks submixed in various ways.

The fifteenth of December, Nineteen Eighty-five On the good ship Angelique With all hands still alive A storm had caught us too far out, To make it safely back The sea was rough and dark as ink The sky was just as black I was keeping watch that night And felt my blood run cold A wave had blotted out the stars Then slammed our forward hold Ollie in the boiler room, The mate upon the deck The captain in the wheelhouse said “I think we're going to wreck” Ollie, Mate and Me Ollie, Mate and Me All he ever wanted, was Ollie, Mate and Me Ollie, Mate and Me Ollie, Mate and Me All he ever wanted, was Ollie, Mate and Me We found the lifeboat missing, With jackets, flares and all The radio already gone Too late to make a call The Angelique was listing bad, We felt her timbers break And heard the waters rushing in To see who they could take Our bow was sinking lower, The stern was rising high Every man on board that ship Prepared himself to die Ollie prayed for mercy, I think the mate joined in The captain had a little flask And passed it to the men Ollie, Mate and Me Ollie, Mate and Me All he ever wanted, was Ollie, Mate and Me Ollie, Mate and Me Ollie, Mate and Me All he ever wanted, was Ollie, Mate and Me “Well now lads”, the captain said, “You've been a noble crew “Let's raise that flask and make a toast “Before our time is through” But then a wave crashed through the hull, And rolled us on our side Men and cargo, broken beams All scattered in the tide Early that next morning, Rescued from the sea Crawled three men up on the shore Ollie, mate and me The captain rode the Angelique, To the bottom of the sea We shared the flask and heard him say “Have one last drink on me” Ollie, Mate and Me Ollie, Mate and Me All he ever wanted, was Ollie, Mate and Me Ollie, Mate and Me, boys Ollie, Mate and Me All he ever wanted, was Ollie, Mate and Me