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Lighthouses Down The Coast

Written: 1970

Writers: David Jenneson, Alan Hovden

Status: Recorded but unpublished

Genre and Style: Pop ballad anthem.

Comments: Dave: I wrote the lyrics to Lighthouses Down the Coast in a coffee shop in Prince Rupert, B.C. after becoming depressed by two weeks of clouds, rain and playing to hostile crowds at the local hotel. I got the idea for the title the night before in a bar after hearing two fishermen arguing over the wisdom of going out in the current winter storms. One summed up by saying, ‘But there’s lighthouses down the coast.’ This seemed to me to be a good song title so the next day I wrote it. The lyrics are downbeat and poetically fragmented but still manage to deliver the message being personally lost yet finding hope. With its huge chorus it certainly connected with audiences. In 1970 the CBC used it as the theme song for the national coverage of the Easter Be – In. For the entire life of the Burner Boys it remained the song with which we ended our gigs at 2 AM.

Comments: Al: I wrote the music for this in my head on the long drive back from Prince Rupert to Vancouver. I think this was our first attempt at a really "serious" song and it still resonates today.

Lighthouses Down The Coast

Vocals - Al Hovden

Down there a man sells shoelaces

Newspapers on an old war wound

So cold he’s holding in his heart

Can’t I hear him singing?

No use in denying what you’re feeling

Don’t sleep with the things you’re trying to hide

The blues, nobody has to tell me

You’re lonely fingers on the telephone

Hey I don’t know where I’m going

And hey I don’t know where I’ve been

Hey I don’t know where I’m going

And hey I don’t know where I’ve been

Tonight the ships sail in darkness

But there’s lighthouses down the coast.

Nighttime in a town going nowhere

It seems my room is the only place to go

I rolled out of bed and I rolled a cigarette

Celebrating ‘cause there is nowhere to go

Hey I don’t know where I’m going

And hey I don’t know where I’ve been

Hey I don’t know where I’m going

And hey I don’t know where I’ve been

Tonight the ships sail in darkness

But there’s lighthouses down the coast.