Ode to Big Blue

The oceans of the world were the home of big blue He was the greatest monster that the world ever knew And the place that he loved best Was the waters to the west Around the blue Pacific he did roam Big Blue moved alone for a mighty blue was he And the battles of the whales was an awesome sight to see And he took them one by one and he drove them all away In the mating of the day he was the king Big blue had fifty wives and he sired forty sons Though most of them feel victim to the cruel harpoon guns Ah but he was too much wise to get caught by the gunners' eyes And so he lived at sea a hundred years His mouth was as large as a tunnel so they say His hide was thick as leather and his eyes quick and small And his back was all scarred by the times he got away And he knew the smell of whalers did Big Blue Big Blue passed away to his natural decay Beside the Arctic Circle as he travelled up that way And there never was a man who was born with a gunner's hand Who ever took a pan to Big Blue Now the gray whale has run and the sperm is almost done The finbacks and the Greenland rights have all passed and gone They've been taken by the men for the money they could spend And the killing never ends, it just goes on The oceans of the earth were the home of big blue He was the greatest monster that the world ever knew And the place that he loved best was the waters to the west Around the blue Pacific he did roam --- Ode to Big Blue - Gordon Lightfoot