Thursday Inspiration #225 Nantucket Sleighride

Respond to this challenge, by either using the prompt word home, or going with the above picture, or by means of the song ‘Nantucket Sleighride’, or by going with another Mountain song, or you can go with anything else that you think fits.  ‘Nantucket Sleighride’ is a rather long song and it appeared on Mountain’s 1971 second studio album of the same name.  This is probably one of the darkest rock and roll song ever written, but only if you know the story behind the song, as the darkness is not reflected in the lyrics.  Mountain’s bass player/producer Felix Pappalardi wrote this song with his then girlfriend who would become his wife, Gail Collins when they were on Nantucket Island off Massachusetts.  The whaling industry was the main source of oil for fueling the Industrial Revolution, but whales could only be captured after they were harpooned and the boats dragged then across the ocean until the wounded mammals succumbed to their injuries.  A Nantucket sleighride, refers to the process of a whaleboat dragging a harpooned whale that is diving deep trying to get the harpoons out of its back, flying to the surface and pulling the boats along with it.  This song was dedicated to Owen Coffin, a young seaman on the Nantucket whaler Essex, and it is a fictional account of a true story, which ended in cannibalism after the ship 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 in 1821 by its First Mate Owen Chase, one of eight survivors.  The sperm whale caused the longest drag events, reaching speeds of 23 mph (37 km/h), and the length of the drag lasted until the animal had no more energy.  In August 1819, Owen Coffin was aboard the Essex when it set sail for the Pacific Ocean on a sperm whale-hunting expedition under the command of his cousin, George Pollard, Jr.  In November 1820, a whale rammed and breached the hull of Essex in mid-Pacific, causing Essex to sink.  The crew escaped in small whaleboats, with sufficient supplies for two months, but they landed on Henderson Island, and three of the survivors decided to remain there.  The others decided to take their chances on the open sea and in January 1821, the near-starved survivors began to eat the bodies of those who had died.  When this resource ran out, the four men remaining in Pollard’s boat agreed to draw straws to decide which of them should be killed, preventing all four from dying of starvation and Owen Coffin drew the short straw, so he was shot and eaten.  The captain volunteered to take Coffin’s place, but Coffin refused, saying it was his right to do his part, so that the others might live.

The song mentions a Robin-Marie who was said to be a woman that Pappalardi was cheating on Collins with.  Collins and Pappalardi had an open marriage, and their bed was often shared with guests.  In 1982, Pappalardi began sleeping with an aspiring singer, 27-year-old Valerie Merians.  The sex evolved into love, and Collins knew her marriage was on the brink.  Four months later, Collins was charged with murder when she shot and killed Pappalardi after his tryst with Merians.  That night, Gail was pretty stoned on Percodan, and she shot Felix with a derringer pistol in his neck while he was on the bed in his underwear, after he confessed his love affair to Gail Collins.  She was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and sentenced to 16 months to 4 years in prison, but after two years, she was released on parole.

Goodbye, little Robin-Marie
Don’t try following me
Don’t cry, little Robin-Marie
‘Cause you know I’m coming home soon