Sailing to Philadelphia // Mark Knopfler

Now you're a good surveyor, Dixon
But I swear you'll make me mad
The West will kill us both
You gullible Geordie lad
You talk of liberty
How can America be free
A Geordie and a baker's boy
In the forests of the Iroquois

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"Sailing to Philadelphia" written by Mark Knopfler and James Taylor, performed by Mark Knopfler and James Taylor, from Sailing to Philadelphia, 2000

First released on the album of the same name, Sailing to Philadelphia tells the story of two men, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, both English surveyors who were chosen to draw the border between Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia in the American colonies during the 1760's. There was dispute over what land fell to what state on the Maryland-Pennsylvania border, and where exactly the borders were drawn. In 1760's the Proprietor of Baltimore in the Province of Maryland was forced to accept an agreement stating that the border was to be marked by the latitude 15 miles south of the southern most house in Philadelphia. At this point, parties of both sides called for Mason and Dixon to survey the newly established boundaries near the aforementioned four colonies.

The Mason-Dixon line, as it was and still is often called, became an unofficial marker for the boundary between the declared slave states and free states in the late 1700's and early 1800's until the end of the Civil War and the creation of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865. I'm sure of of my American fans know all of the Amendments by heart, right? Didn't think so. Needless to say, it abolished slavery. FUN FACT: Mississippi didn't ratify the amendment until 1995, 130 years later, and that was only symbolically. Git-r-dun.

Here's the scene: I go Last.fm to listen to the radio and tell myself for the thousandth time I need to make an account. I type in 'Mark Knopfler' into the search, radio comes on. Lo-and-behold, it is a duet with James "chicken choking motherfucking" Taylor. I must have listened to this song thirty times over in a row on a repeat that night. That was the only song I listened to for over two hours. Anyway, like I said, another great by Knopfler with full lyrical quality, musical quality, and vocal quality and of course his way of playing his more quiet songs off in the the æther. Its a song that doesn't seem to end, or more it finishes but has no ending like it could go on forever.

I am Jeremiah Dixon
I am a Geordie boy
A glass of wine with you, sir
And the ladies I'll enjoy
All Durham and Northumberland
Is measured up by my own hand
It was my fate from birth
To make my mark upon the earth...

He calls me Charlie Mason
A stargazer am I
It seems that I was born
To chart the evening sky
They'd cut me out for baking bread
But I had other dreams instead
This baker's boy from the west country
Would join the Royal Society...

We are sailing to Philadelphia
A world away from the coaly Tyne
Sailing to Philadelphia
To draw the line
The Mason-Dixon line

Now you're a good surveyor, Dixon
But I swear you'll make me mad
The West will kill us both
You gullible Geordie lad
You talk of liberty
How can America be free
A Geordie and a baker's boy
In the forest of the Iroquois...

Now hold your head up, Mason
See America lies there
The morning tide has raised
The capes of Delaware
Come up and feel the sun
A new morning is begun
Another day will make it clear
Why your stars should guide us here...

We are sailing to Philadelphia
A world away from the coaly Tyne
Sailing to Philadelphia
To draw the line
The Mason-Dixon line

image credit: Post-Gazette

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After over a year and no updates I'm resuming this blog again. I enjoy it too much not to. I had walked away because of school and other 'life issues' but since then I've heard some great music I want to tell people about. I've noticed that when I talk about certain songs with my friends now I can relay the entire history of the song, the release date, the history of the band, and if it is a song that has a rich story behind it I can teach a little bit and even learn something myself. The BS Jukebox won't be updated tri-weekly like before but rather when I can get around to writing a longer and more substantial piece about the music. As always, there is the email address ( backselljukebox@gmail.com ) where you can send me a song you really like and if it isn't complete crap (or rather "not my brand of crap") then I'd love to feature it here.