Neither Could Dylan

Pirate is the last song in Act I of Foxchase; a bit of a cliffhanger that stems directly from the ideas introduced in Better Role Models and documents the beginning of another big shift in my life.

They say don’t get angry, get even, as in, channel your frustration into something actionable and productive to your cause. It’s much better advice than just getting mad and throwing a fit over life’s disappointments, but sometimes you’ve gotta let yourself stew in those emotions before you’re able to take a deep breath and make a plan of attack. 

Enter Pirate. 

I wrote Pirate in a furry one day and I’m not sure if anything in particular spurred it, but I distinctly recall that Fall Out Boy cover of We Didn’t Start the Fire on the overhead speakers while I was going through my daily repetitive tasks of cleaning the gym I worked at when the first line came to me.

Make of that what you will, I guess. 

Pirate speaks again to acknowledging a lack of leadership and guidance in your life, noting how the path that those who came before you took did not account for the obstacles you would face in your own journey. For me, this was a frustrating thing to deal with when I finally realized it and I think that frustration and anger comes through in the production. 

Particularly, the anger stems from deep rooted patriarchal structures that haven’t served me or other women in this world and if fact are often designed to keep us lower on the ladder – all ladders. I’m all too familiar with being criticized or seen as less than by the sheer nature of my sex and I know this type of thinking does a massive disservice to our society as a whole. 

There are a lot of people who would rather us believe that women cannot take on the same types of leadership roles or jobs as men can and I could not disagree with the notion more; Hell, the amount of times I’ve found myself in a room of men who were wildly less qualified than me for the task happens more often than the alternative an I’m certain I’m not alone in that. I really think we need more women in leadership roles of all industries if we are going to have any hope of improving our communities, what we’ve been doing instead hasn’t been and won’t work. While I’ve spoken about women here because it’s what inspired this track specifically from my own perspective, this applies also to all other marginalized groups; LGBTQ+, POC and Indigenous peoples. Until we have a much more rounded collective of leaders from all of these communities we will not truly thrive. 

Official Lyrics:
Lower the sails on this sinking ship 
It’s voyage is tarnished by sheer cowardice 
You are no captain 
You are a pirate 
I am a fire 
And I’m just getting started 

This map though charted lacked details and depth 
It is those oversights that will take this vessel down with it 
The buoys that signal did not follow the pen 
They sway ores into caverns made for entrapment 

A mistake made my many that this ship be so vast 
To operate it effectively require the brute strength of man 
Although these seas violent they are made by the wind 
A heart more delicate heed it than a heavy calloused hand 

Lower the sails on this sinking ship 
It’s voyage is tarnished by sheer cowardice 
You are no captain 
You are a pirate 
I am a fire 
I am a fire

The cannons that burned into the belly of this beast 
Like shrapnel explode before the eyes of who they meet 
From their terrorist plight there is no swift escape 
They puncture the lifesavers and put anchors in their place 

Lower the sails on this sinking ship
Its voyage is tarnished by sheer cowardice  
You are no captain 
You are a pirate 
I am a fire 
I am a fire

Let lie the sailors who boarded untrained 
Let go the children who never had a say 
Set off by sunset for destination unclaimed 
Leave only the pirate and strip him of his name 

Lower the sails on this sinking ship 
It’s voyage is tarnished by sheer cowardice 
You are no captain 
You are a pirate 
I am a fire 
I am ignited

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Keep listening and jump to track 6: Abandon (coming soon)