Escrita por Neil Young, foi gravada em 11 de agosto de 1976, no Indigo Ranch Recording Studio, em Malibu, na California e lançada em 29 de outubro de 1980, no disco Hawks and Doves, o décimo segundo disco de Neil. Foi produzida por Elliot Mazer, Tim Mulligan e Neil Young. Na gravação, só temos Neil tocando violão e cantando. Nenhum outro músico. Fala sobre a vida de Lou Kennedy, um mercador marinho que teve seu barco destruído por um barco alemão em agosto de 1941. Neil estava de ferias em Nassau, nas Bahamas e conheceu Kennedy no começo dos anos 70 e conheceu sua história e compôs essa música em sua homenagem.
A letra:
I
am a young mariner headed to war
I'm thinking about my family and
what it was for
There's water on the wood and the sails feel
good
And when I get to shore
I hope that I can kill good
My father was a sailor named Captain
Kennedy
He lost his wooden schooner to the Germans on the
sea
Exploded on the water for everyone to see
And humiliate
that American Captain Kennedy
I saw him in Nassau in nineteen-seventy
one
His strength was failing but he still ran a run
He worked
until his fingers wore to the bone
To buy that wooden schooner and
sail on his own
He was known in the islands as hundred
foot iron
That steel hull freighter was passing its time
And
time flew by faster with life on the sea
And the days grew shorter
for Captain Kennedy
I am a young mariner headed to war
I'm
thinking about my family and what it was for
There's water on the
wood and the sails feel good
And when I get to shore
I hope
that I can kill good
A versão de Neil Young:
A versão de Michael Hedges:
A versão de J. D. Delves:
