Blues Image: Ride Captain Ride Meaning

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Ride Captain Ride Lyrics

Seventy-three men sailed up from the San Francisco Bay
Rolled off of their ship, and here's what they had to say
"We're callin' everyone to ride along to another shore
We can laugh our lives away and be free once more"

But no one heard them...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   MikeG53

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   Mar 7th 2011 report

   This is no interpretation it is just some facts I have been a friend of Mike Pinera for over forty years, as well as other Blues Image members. I see Mike daily and play with him in a new group. All I will address here is the drug culture comment and the Pueblo comment. The song had NOTHING to do with drugs or drug culture, nor the pueblo, the song was written and released BEFORE the Pueblo incident (which was top secret) was even released. As to the guy saying Mike is no Keith Richards you are right,HE IS SO FAR SUPERIOR TO RICHARDS AND MOST PLAYERS WORKING TODAY. If you have ever heard Mike play this should be obvious.

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Jul 18th 2011 report

   Everyone of y'all are reading way to much into this song.lol.. people do this all the time. I'm a musician, and I can promise you that there are very few songs that are historically researched. And the guy talking about all the drug use in the first "translation" is a jackass. He must be an aspiring psychiatrist. This song has nothing to do with drug use. It has nothing to do with drake. The only correct answer is the one given by the writer and artist. The song was written in story in a matter of minutes pretty much ad-libbed. The way most hits are written. And like most hits, there are always conspiracy theorists.haha... its a great song. Just enjoy it.

3. 3TOP RATED

   #3 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Sep 5th 2011 report

   I'm not that interested in what the author was thinking when he wrote the song.
   
   But what I like about the song is that it's a great metaphor for our own life. Each of us is the captain of our own ship, and we can be amazed at the friends we'll meet on our trip (of life), the worlds that we might discover, etc. as long as we're not too busy focusing on unimportant details (like the raindrops falling).
   
   Or maybe the song is the mystery ship that takes us away from our everyday cares?
4. anonymous

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   May 22nd report

   This is one of my favorite songs from my childhood , I believe the message is your life is what you make of it. Everyone is thrown rocks and detours during the ride , but where you land is how you react to them.
5. anonymous

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   May 19th report

   Trips is the only one who is correct about The Merry Pranksters' bus trip to New York, where they invited everyone they met to join them. Obviously it is not about anything military, saying laugh your lives away and be free. Amazing how no one is familiar with the cultural history of the '60's and comes up with ludicrous, obscure interpretations. Ken Kesey was a great writer and a leader then. But "Closer to Home" is also about Ulysses from the Odyssey voyage.
6. anonymous

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   Aug 31st 2019 report

   Those of us who served in Vietnam believed, proba bly incorrectly, that this song was about the first group of advisors sent to Vietnam.
7. anonymous

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   Jun 26th 2019 report

   Many song writers don't bother giving interpretations of their songs. It creates mystery, which works great for sells.
8. anonymous

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   Dec 11th 2018 report

   It was about Captain Cook and his voyage to the Hawaiian islands where the natives murdered him.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
9. anonymous

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   Nov 22nd 2018 report

   Music was used to distribute code messages at one point in time.
   This had information about a covert operation. Only the operatives know exactly what the message is

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
10. itsrobroy

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    Jul 4th 2018 report

    In early 1968, there was an effort to start up a gay clothing optional beach in San Francisco. It met with resistance, so a boat was chartered to go to an island off the coast. They were expecting about 300 passengers. There were 73 men. After about 3 hours, an orgy broke out and all the men were bending over the starboard side of the railing while the other half of men were bare back mounting. With all the men on one side of the ship, a rogue wave came and capsized the boat, and all the passengers and crew drowned. Naked men were washing up on the san fracisco beach all summer long. It was a big new story.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
11. anonymous

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    Apr 17th 2018 report

    It's a song about the north Korea freeing are ships . common sense will tell you that if you know music.and if you know what went on back in the day.of (1968)lison good and go back to 1968
12. anonymous

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    Apr 11th 2018 report

    73 men on a boat. In San Francisco. Hmmmm.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
13. anonymous

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    Mar 9th 2018 report

    Bro, I was like, wow bro. 73 men. 73 diamonds in the rough to polish. 73 old nuggets to gaze upon as the capitalistic system collapses around us bro. 73 lives to live. 73 tears to cry. 73 smiles to give bro. Be my bro, bro.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
14. anonymous

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    May 24th 2017 report

    This song popped into my head after i read Googles headline about American Indian Native 'Richard Oaks' who occupied Alcatraz for 18 months in 1969, to them maybe Alcatraz was a place to 'Be Free Once More', 'San Franciso Bay', and around 73 peopl occupied Alcatraz ......

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
15. Lora Curry

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    Mar 20th 2017 report

    The fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. Yay:))

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
16. anonymous

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    Mar 1st 2017 report

    I dont know how true it is, but I was told that this ship out SF bay was captured during the war by the Japanese navy, 73 men boarded a ship of another cultural experience not of American it was a mystery ship to them, when the Japanese got word that the war had ended they released the 73 men that made history gave them back their ship which metaphorically that was the part of the storm being captured and surviving it, now we're calling everyone to ride along to another shore cause the war is over and the seas are calmer and safe now we can laugh our lives away cause we defeat our enemies

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
17. anonymous

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    Dec 31st 2016 report

    It sounds like they were being offered a trip to another, extra-terrestial, world.
18. anonymous

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    Sep 24th 2016 report

    The words and the song itself have a life of their own. Like a lot of things that are grabbed from the "other space" of life ( kind of like what I just said ) they breathe and move with their own meaning which is derived from a mosaic of thoughts that might have been in the writer's head at the time it was written. But , if you have to find a meaning that you can nail down: they sailed "in" to the bay and they are calling others to ride with them to another shore where they can be free and laugh once more. ..... So basically , tell your mind to shut up and take the trip .

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