Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Little Bathtubs




Thanks to Gavin Atkin of intheboatshed.net for passing on this delicious parody of a song which was a hit for Pete Seeger in the 60's, Little Boxes. The new version skewers all those owners of plastic boats in marinas.


Little bathtubs in marinas, little bathtubs made of ticky-tacky,
Little bathtubs at the quayside and the owner in the bar,
There’s a white one and a white one and a white one and a white one,
And they’re all made out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same.

And they all have roller-reefing and self tailing winches,
Arid they all put a little reef in in anything above a two,
There’s a Jeanneau and a Beneteau and a Moody and a Westerly,
Aud they’re all made out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same.

And they all have weatherfaxes and global positioning,
And a radar and a little screen that helps you to plot,
There are are gadgets and gizmos which show where the wind blows,
And the skipper is just a passenger ’cause the Autohelm does the lot!

And the owners are all builders or accountants or solicitors,
And they all drive down from Loughton on a Friday afternoon,
And they slip into their blazers and their Henri Lloyd moccasins,
For an evening at the yachty-clubby and they all look just the same.

And the owners all have wifeys who hate to go sailing,
Except around the Greek Islands where they get a good suntan,
And they all sit in marinas and drink up their G&Ts,
And they all come out of Billericay and they all look just the same.

And they all have little children who love to go sailing,
But they’re all sent away to boarding school where they never get the chance,
So they read their Arthur Ransome and dream of great voyaging,
In a pretty little wooden cutter, off to Holland or to France.

Little Bathtubs in marinas, little bathtubs on a swinging mooring,
Little bathtubs at the quayside and the owner in the pub,
There’s a Jeanneau and a Beneteau and a Moody and a Westerly,
And they’re all made out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same.

20 comments:

Baydog said...

Ouch. That's all I have the guts to say right now.

Sam Chapin said...

Ouch. Baydog he is back from sailing and complaining about things like mommy boats and boating visitors. Look out there is a Laser or two tide up someplace.

Baydog said...

Ouch. Thanks Sam.
A Sea Snark or Sunflower may fall into the "ticky tacky" category, but Pearson sailboats were painstakingly crafted in your own backyard of Portsmouth, Rhode Island.

Tillerman said...

Pearson made Lasers for a while. I had one. It was the worst Laser I ever owned. It was a white one...

Doc Häagen-Dazs said...

Thanks for this. I'll comment on the original.

Anonymous said...

I guess Billericay, UK <=> Barrington/Cumberland/E Greenwich, RI. No resemblance except population to Billerica, MA.

Steve in Baltimore
(who, yes, has a white boat)

Tillerman said...

Billericay UK is a landlocked town in Essex near Basildon, about 25 miles from London. So I assume it is meant to represent the typical inland surbubia where most of the yachties really live. So not Barrington or E. Greenwich, perhaps more Foxboro MA or Paramus NJ.

O Docker said...

How did this guy get onto O Dock?

I'm calling security.

It's a good thing 'Flemish coils' doesn't rhyme with anything.

Baydog said...

Or Musquee de Provence for that matter

Tillerman said...

And the owners out on O Dock
All copy each other
Winding pretty Flemish coils
And they all look just the same.
And the owners write blog posts
About pumpkins and cupcakes
Oleander and Tillerman
But they all read just the same.

mohammad said...

Tanks for this

O Docker said...

Little Lasers in regattas, little Lasers made of ticky-tacky,

Little Lasers on their beam ends and the sailor in the drink,

There’s a white one and a blue one and a white one and a blue one,

And they’re all made out of ticky-tacky and they capsize just the same.



And they all have little hiking pants and carbon fiber tiller sticks,

And they lean out till their abs burn, but they fall off just the same,

There’s a white one and a blue one and a white one and a blue one,

Aud they’re all made out of ticky-tacky and they capsize just the same.



And they all go to the clinics where they study about death rolls,

And they practice going downwind, but they fall off just the same.

There’s a white one and a blue one and a white one and a blue one,

Aud they’re all made out of ticky-tacky and they capsize just the same.

Tillerman said...

Touché. I was expecting something like that!

Baydog said...

Thanks OD. I'm not nearly clever enough.

JP said...

Nice one O'D - where's the "Like" button.

Different times you like different boats. At the moment while overloaded with work the thought of sitting on a white plastic bathtub with a cold beer in a hot climate sounds very attractive.

But after the glaze goes from the eyes no doubt something a bit more sporty would become attractive.

I crossed an ocean in a Westerly Ocean 43, nice boat, and what's wrong with self-tailing winches?

Pandabonium said...

Jealous poets in the boatsheds, little boatsheds made of ticky tacky...
Jealous poets at the quayside after too long in the bar
There's a white one...well, let's not make a racial thing out of this....

RIP Pete Seeger

Tillerman said...

RIP? Pete Seeger is still going strong at the ripe old age of 91, I believe.

Carol Anne said...

As far as I know, Pete's alive and kicking. Haven't seen any word to the contrary.

Pandabonium said...

Tillerman said: "RIP? Pete Seeger is still going strong at the ripe old age of 91, I believe."

Glad to hear it. I lose track. Anyway, I hope he rests in peace and doesn't have the recurring nightmares of generals and lawyers he wrote of.

Where have all the ticky tacky lawyers gone?

Andrew Osborn said...

Just to set the record straight, it was me that re-worked the lyrics of Pete Seeger's "Little Boxes" into the version that you have published. It was written for the first Southwold Classic Boat festival, around 1997 I think, and was meant to entertain members of the East Coast Old Gaffer's association by poking a bit of gentle fun at modern yacht owners. My sailing credentials? At the time I owned a sweet little Raymond Wall-designed sloop, "Amberjack," built at Colne Marine, Wivenhoe in 1961. Since then I have graduated to the 35 foot C R Holman Yawl, "Tinkatoo" (1960) that was famously pre-owned by Paul Heiney and Libby Purves.
Andrew Osborn

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