Dave Keats songs are © copyright protected.

Fisherman's Tales


Three old boys at the quay, just wasting time.
Telling tales of what was and maybe of what should have been.
Johnny caught a big one. Billy somehow let his slip away.
And Paul was as big as life but nobody could see.

For all their lives they'd met there most every Saturday.
When their work week was over. Exchanging points of view.
But one day Johnny was sent uptown to the big new hospital.
But why he never came out nobody quite knew.

There's a diamond that glints through the holes in old dreams and new rainbows.
There's an epitaph written for all children before they are born.
Get dressed in your Sunday best.
Go to that church if you need to share your load.
Tell the fisherman there all your tales. He'll understand.

Seven days and nights passed and Billy met Paul at the waterside.
Where they talked of the good times when Johnny had stood by their side.
Then turning to leave Billy stumbled to the ground with his hand on his heart.
Both cursing and thanking Paul for being there with him when he died.

There's a diamond that glints through the holes in old dreams and new rainbows.
There's an epitaph written for all children before they are born.
Get dressed in your Sunday best.
Go to that church if you need to share your load.
Tell the fisherman there all your tales. He'll understand.

The next week Paul showed up. Too proud to admit that he was lonely.
And he talked all the day into the night as if his friends were still there.
The folks passing by simply said that old Paul had gone crazy.
But he didn't care.
When they'd left him he put the rope 'round his neck.

There's a diamond that glints through the holes in old dreams and new rainbows.
There's an epitaph written for all children before they are born.
Get dressed in your Sunday best.
Go to that church if you need to share your load.
Tell the fisherman there all your tales. He'll understand.