2025 Competition Entry:
The Cambria by Marvin Conan
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Genre
Folk
Artist
Website
Co-writer(s)
no
Performer(s)
Vocals – Reed Waddle
Producer – Matt Anthony
Producer – Matt Anthony
Description
The song tells a true story with very minor poetic license taken. Jerry Lee was a cousin I grew up with in the 1950s. We were the same age, lived in the same building, and were inseparable. He died in 1988 in the terrorist Lockerbie plane crash.
Bio
A Brooklynite by birth, I’ve been involved with music my entire life. I began taking piano lessons when I was 5 years old and as a 9 year old, had a scholarship to study classical piano at the prestigious Chatham Square Music School. As a teenager, I listened to all kinds of music – jazz, folk, classical, top 40, American songbook etc. I taught myself folk guitar, took flute lessons and played in my high school and college orchestras. I occasionally wrote a song, and a few of my songs came to the attention of the legendary music publisher Al Gallico, who, after after listening to them, asked me to come work for him. At the time, music was a fun avocation, and I had no thoughts about being a professional songwriter. Throughout my life I would occasionally write songs, but it was only as I neared retirement from federal service that I began to write more regularly and take my writing more seriously. I had a few country songs released on Pharaoh International Records that got a fair amount of airplay in Europe. A song called “Too Soon”, written in remembrance of a loved one who died in the terrorist Lockerbie plane crash over Scotland was a finalist in the UK Songwriting Contest, and a few years later a song I co-wrote won the Olympic Theme category in the same contest. Several of my songs have been performed in satb choir arrangements. Many of my recent songs have to do with social issues and aging.
Lyrics
THE CAMBRIA
An old abandoned boat on Coney Island Creek
Nobody knew who owned it or how it came to be
A weather-beaten hull – a hint of mystery
It seemed like it had been there for eternity
The Cambria – black letters on it’s side
Risin’ fallin’ risin’ with the rhythm of the tide
Like the beating heart of something alive
The Cambria belonged there – with the sea and sky
My buddy Jerry Lee and me – we’d take the Sea Beach subway line
To Coney Island in the summer time
We’d see The Cambria – floating -on that muddy creek
We’d laugh and joke – as long as she is there – life is gonna be sweet
I lost my buddy – I lost him suddenly
It hit me like a two ton truck – slamming into me
Now I’m living – in his memory
But there’s something I had to know – I had to see
I went back to the Sea Beach subway line
Took it to Coney Island – took it one last time
Looked out the window as we crossed that creek
The Cambria was gone – no where to be seen
An old abandoned boat on Coney Island Creek
Nobody knew who owned it or how it came to be
A weather-beaten hull – a hint of mystery
It seemed like it would be there for eternity
© Marv Conan
An old abandoned boat on Coney Island Creek
Nobody knew who owned it or how it came to be
A weather-beaten hull – a hint of mystery
It seemed like it had been there for eternity
The Cambria – black letters on it’s side
Risin’ fallin’ risin’ with the rhythm of the tide
Like the beating heart of something alive
The Cambria belonged there – with the sea and sky
My buddy Jerry Lee and me – we’d take the Sea Beach subway line
To Coney Island in the summer time
We’d see The Cambria – floating -on that muddy creek
We’d laugh and joke – as long as she is there – life is gonna be sweet
I lost my buddy – I lost him suddenly
It hit me like a two ton truck – slamming into me
Now I’m living – in his memory
But there’s something I had to know – I had to see
I went back to the Sea Beach subway line
Took it to Coney Island – took it one last time
Looked out the window as we crossed that creek
The Cambria was gone – no where to be seen
An old abandoned boat on Coney Island Creek
Nobody knew who owned it or how it came to be
A weather-beaten hull – a hint of mystery
It seemed like it would be there for eternity
© Marv Conan
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