Mountain

Nantucket Sleighride is the second studio album by American hard rock band Mountain, released in January 1971 by Windfall Records in the US and by Island in the UK. It reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 200 Album Chart in 1971 The name of the title track is a reference to a Nantucket sleighride, the dragging of a whaleboat by a harpooned whale. Owen Coffin, to whom the song is dedicated, was a young seaman on the Nantucket whaler Essex, which was rammed and sunk by a sperm whale in 1820. In the aftermath of the wreck, Coffin was shot and eaten by his shipmates. The story of the Essex was recorded by its First Mate Owen Chase, one of eight survivors, in his 1821 Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex. The instrumental break in the second half of the track uses the melody of the traditional Scottish song "The Parting Glass". The closing section of the song was used as the theme to the long-running British political television show Weekend World (1972–1988). A cover version of the song was recorded by British heavy metal band Quartz in 1980. Lyrics: Goodbye, little Robin-Marie Don't try following me Don't cry, little Robin-Marie 'Cause you know I'm coming home soon My ships' leaving on a three-year tour The next tide will take us from shore Windlaced, gather in sail and spray On a search for the mighty sperm whale Fly your willow branches Wrap your body round my soul Lay down your reeds and drums on my soft sheets There are years behind us reaching To the place where hearts are beating And I know you're the last true love I'll ever meet And I know you're the last true love I'll ever meet Starbuck's sharpening his harpoon The black man is playing his tune An old salt's sleeping his watch away He'll be drunk again before noon Three years sailing on bended knee We found no whales in the sea Don't cry, little Robin-Marie 'Cause we'll be in sight of land soon Fly your willow branches Wrap your body round my soul Lay down your reeds and drums on my soft sheets There are years behind us reaching To the place where hearts are beating And I know you're the last true love I'll ever meet And I know you're the last true love I'll ever meet

Mountain was an American hard rock band formed in Long Island, New York, in 1969. Originally comprising vocalist and guitarist Leslie West, bassist and vocalist Felix Pappalardi, keyboardist Steve Knight, and drummer N. D. Smart, the band broke up in 1972, but reunited on several occasions prior to West's death in 2020. The song was born on a hot and sweaty Saturday night in August 1969, as drummer Corky Laing – not even a member of the group at that point – attempted to play a club gig with his previous band, called [somewhat ironically] Energy, during a power cut. "We were at a funky beach place called 30 Acres in Nantucket [an island off Cape Cod], and because it was so darned hot everyone had their air conditioning on, causing the entire island to black out,” Laing recalls. “The emergency lights came on, but the band stayed unplugged. Everyone was hyped on soul pills. A friend of mine was with a drop-dead gorgeous chick. She was from the south and wearing a see-through dress covered in flowers.” Knowing it was up to him to keep the show going, Laing launched into a freeform drum solo, bellowing the words ‘Mississippi queen, do you know what I mean?’ repeatedly and hitting a cowbell maniacally – for more than an hour. I just had to keep this chick dancing, I was so turned on by her,” he shrugs. “But in screaming so loudly for so long I gave myself chronic laryngitis and screwed up my voice forever."

Mountain was an American hard rock band formed in Long Island, New York, in 1969. Originally comprising vocalist and guitarist Leslie West, bassist and vocalist Felix Pappalardi, keyboardist Steve Knight, and drummer N. D. Smart, the band broke up in 1972, but reunited on several occasions prior to West's death in 2020.