Nix's Mate Island

Robert James

I restricted my guitar gear to just three effect pedals. They included an overdrive pedal, but no fuzz boxes. Any other year I would have fuzzed the holy hell out of the rhythm guitars here, but it still feels okay with just a cranked overdrive pedal. You can tell by the lead guitars that it’s getting down to the wire. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. The lyrics are about an island that is sinking into Boston Harbor. Is it because of natural causes or because of a condemned sailor’s curse? I don’t know. The guitars are a Gibson SG through a Fender Deluxe Reverb.

You’ll hang there till there’s nothing left of you
Murderer you are gonna pay for what you’ve done
I’ll show you that you’ve hung an innocent
You’ll know it when the island sinks into the sea

Nix was found dead
By his crew
and they took away his first mate
He was tried
and found guilty
so they sentenced him to hang

The mate swore that he
had no part
in the murder so he prayed
that god would show
that he, he was innocent of it all

As the years passed
that mates prayer
seemed to be coming true
as the land
disappeared
and the ocean claimed it