Terry Jacks - Concrete Sea (1972)

Time for some post-birthday folksy melancholy...



I heard some music being played today
I heard a song but the words were wrong
It didn't matter to me anyway
Some people really don't care what they say

I started looking to the sky today
'Cause it's so big and it's so far away
I've got too many things inside my head
I wish that I could be up there instead

[chorus]

And then I looked into the ocean blue
'Cause it's so deep and it's so quiet too
There's just too many people everywhere
I wish that I was down there

[chorus]

I heard a story being told today
About a man and just how he got away
You got to leave the things you grow up for
Turn your head and start to swim for shore

[chorus]

No one is meant to be
Living here in a concrete sea
Everyone, including me
Wishes he could be set free

I had forgotten about this song and it is a really good one.

What do you make of these lyrics:

I heard a story being told today
About a man and just how he got away
You got to leave the things you grow up for
Turn your head and start to swim for shore

?

That a tricky lyric because Jacks uses water to mean both the 'concrete sea' and the normal 'ocean blue', so it is hard to tell what 'swimming to shore' represents.

It could mean you have to abandon childhood idealism because it is causing you to swim further out in the sea of unfulfillable hopes. Another option is that man 'got away' from the concrete sea by abandoning childhood illusions that kept him trapped in the city. Either way it is about reflecting on your past and choosing what parts to bring forward into the future.

Reading these lyrics so many times I'm beginning to suspect that "I heard a story being told today about a man and just how he got away" is some sort of Jesus reference... but I cannot say exactly why.

Here is a bit on Terry Jacks. Apparently he wasn't kidding about abandoning the urban 'concrete sea' for the real one.

songfacts.com wrote:
When he got his payday from "Seasons in the Sun," Jacks bought a boat and spent a lot of time sailing around Vancouver and Alaska. He felt a commitment to the environment, and set out to preserve it, taking on Canadian companies who were polluting the waters. For 12 years, he left music behind to protest these companies, which he did through legal actions and media outreach.

His love of nature never wavered - Terry eventually settled in Madeira Park, British Columbia, a remote territory in northern Canada. In the digital age, he chose outdoor pursuits over the Internet. He refers to computers as "Hell Machines."

Here is a (non-musical) enivomentalist video made by Jacks: