John the Navigator Music & Lyrics copyright by Ed Gallagher & Hannah Cope Through the burden of time, Worked our fingers to the bone Broke our backs carrying lumber and stone Raised our hands to the sky Hallelujah-yay We pray to the Lord "Provide a better way" So the Lord sent the man John The Navigator He dig deep channel with his hand He put the steel on the water With 2 horse power To carry heavy load across the land When John set to work, It was a fearful sound When he swung his arms, It fairly shook the ground People of the land, Don't you have no fear Y'all bear witness to the Lord's engineer. They said 'Who's that man' John The Navigator He dig deep channel with his hand He put the steel on the water With 2 horse power To carry heavy load across the land But man became jealous of John's sacred gift He built the iron horse to take the heavy lift Smoke and soot began to fill the air Old John's navigations fell to disrepair Water is the life, So the Gospel say I ain't working for no man, On the permanent way I'm a disciple of John, I work the locks by hand And I'm cruising all the way, To the promised land. Singing "Paise to the Lord" For John the Navigator He dig deep channel with his hand He put the steel on the water With 2 horse power To carry heavy load across the land Hannah Cope and Ed Gallagher met over twenty years ago when they were in a band together. Hannah was already playing Double Bass so Ed took up the Dobro so that they could play Bluegrass together and busk together, which they still do to this day and frequently pop-up all over their home county of Yorkshire as The Peccadillos. This song, 'John the Navigator' is a superb, tongue-in- cheek, take on Gospel Blues based on the classic gospel song 'John the Revalator’. They can be followed on their facebook page. The Narrowboat Sessions is a fund-raising (for Cancer Research) website. The website gives access to many excellent professional quality recordings by known and lesser known artists, all done in the cratch of the narrowboat ‘Cariad IV’ which tours the canals of England. Please visit the site and consider a donation.