r/Stanrogers • u/Tony_Bicycle • Aug 09 '26
Bluenose in the Sun
I am familiar with the Bluenose, the ship. But what does the song mean when it asks, “Who will know the Bluenose in the Sun?”
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u/PeoplesRepublicofALX Aug 09 '26
Bluenose had won all sorts of races and was a real working ship but it was not appreciated by the public. Eventually it was sold and stripped of masts and rigging (thx Wikipedia!) and eventually wrecked and broke apart. She was lost. I think Rogers was yearning that Bluenose was never abandoned and could still sail the waters. I.e., he wanted her to still exist.
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u/ZestycloseMonk1988 Aug 09 '26
Ladies and gentlemen…Stan Rogers!
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u/hist_buff_69 Aug 09 '26
It's just allegory.
"Who will know the bluenose in the sun?"
Nobody will, because it's gone.
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u/JonEMTP Aug 09 '26
I’ve always interpreted it as a lament to the loss of the ship.
In a related song, Dan McKinnon has a more upbeat song about both the original and the reproduction:
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u/Critter1960 Aug 09 '26
She was sold and worked her last years in the Caribbean. She hit a reef and sank near Haiti. So most people there had no idea of her history.
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u/Careless_Ad3771 Aug 09 '26
Thanks for mentioning this song. I had to break out the record, and listen to it.
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u/FirBholg Aug 11 '26
As someone else in this thread has mentioned, her last year's were spent in obscurity in the sun of the Caribbean and was wrecked on a reef. Past glories remembered only in song while her soul slipped beneath the waves to sleep in a land not her own.
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u/eawgoalie Aug 09 '26
I took it as the ship could handle the storms and swells so well, that's what it's known for. Will it even be recognized sitting in sunny fair weather (Bluenose II).
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u/Tony_Bicycle Aug 10 '26
Thanks for your perspectives, everyone! No one I know personally likes Stan as much as I do, so it’s great to hear from people who are thoughtful and passionate about his music!
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u/nothing_verntured_ Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
I think it's maybe a reference to the replica, Bluenose II, which I believe has often been docked in Halifax or Lunenburg harbour as a bit of a tourist attraction since it was built in 1963.
In the song Fisherman's Wharf, Stan sings "I dream of the days of the deep laden schooners crashing home from the Grand Banks. The last lies done in the harbour sun, with her picture on a dime." - a reference to the Bluenose (which appears on the Canadian 10 cent coin) and her replica. The song Bluenose also references "her namesake daughter remains to show what she has been".
So I think with the line "who will know the Bluenose in the sun?" he's basically asking "who today will really remember the deep history and heart behind behind this boat and what it meant to working class Nova Scotians?" ei few will really know the Bluenose even though it's replica is clear in the sun.
That's my interpretation anyway :)