Blues Image - Ride Captain Ride Meaning

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 !⃝

   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 !⃝

   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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   Aug 26th 2012 !⃝

   I'm a former CT also. The song has nothing whatsoever to do with the USS Pueblo, and there isn't a shred of proof to back up that claim. The ship didn't leave SFO with 73 men. It left Sasebo, JP with 82 Navy crewmembers and two civilians.
   
   Like the Drake voyage, it's highly unlikely that the songwriter knew anything about the Pueblo.
   
   The songwriter has very clearly stated that the number 73 came from the number of keys on his Fender electric piano.
4. anonymous

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   Dec 18th 2023 !⃝

   Why is no one connecting this song to the Native American takeover of Alcatraz Island? 73 was the number of native people who sailed over the San Francisco Bay to Alcatraz to start a new life, a colony. (To be free and laugh their lives away).
   The dates are close to the song's release. Since the Alcatraz Island inhabit plan could not be sustained, they all went back home and the men sailed on in history.
5. anonymous

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   Nov 28th 2023 !⃝

   I never thought of this song as having any basis in history. It just seemed like a fun story to go along with a terrific melody.
   
   It always seemed to me to represent the call to run off away from reality and responsibility and follow the dream of being completely carefree — although we can never accomplish it.
6. anonymous

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   Oct 29th 2023 !⃝

   While we’re digging this hole way deeper than necessary (there’s a line for a song!!) perhaps we could explore the collective unconscious? No, not everything has to be dissected and made total sense.
   The lyrics are used to take up space between that super cool single organ riff that modulates at the end. That’s the only reason I bought the single. A buck was a lot of money back then.
7. anonymous

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   May 22nd 2022 !⃝

   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.
8. anonymous

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   May 19th 2022 !⃝

   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.
9. anonymous

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   Aug 31st 2019 !⃝

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

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    Jun 26th 2019 !⃝

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

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    Dec 11th 2018 !⃝

    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
12. anonymous

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    Nov 22nd 2018 !⃝

    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
13. itsrobroy

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    Jul 4th 2018 !⃝

    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
14. anonymous

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    Apr 17th 2018 !⃝

    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
15. anonymous

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    Apr 11th 2018 !⃝

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

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    Mar 9th 2018 !⃝

    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.

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17. anonymous

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    May 24th 2017 !⃝

    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 ......

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18. Lora Curry

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    Mar 20th 2017 !⃝

    The fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. Yay:))

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway