Thursday, February 24, 2000
© 2000 Daniel D. Taddei
About “A Change Will Do You Good”
My landing gear touched Treasure Cay
And nothing looked the same
There were no trees no turquoise shacks
A hurricane to blame
I boarded my old trusty sloop
That somehow lived to tell
And sailed on down toward White Sound
That had been blown to hell
The sea was calm one lonely palm
Gave shelter to a friend
Who’d lived his life aboard his boat
That met an early end
He was a character of many tales
His stories made me late
Now living off of fish and snails
He had no bitter hate
CHORUSHe told me then and now again
A change will do you good
He said he’d lived his best days last
A Change Will Do You Good
I met a man in Nassau and
I thought I’d ask his woe
He’d lost his hand to a grifter man
Who conned him with a glow
Forty years of working hard
And nothing left to show
At sixty-five and without a dime
It’s hard to let it go
He made a plan to leave the land
And sail with newfound friends
His wrinkled eyes just came alive
As he laid back in the sand
CHORUSHe told me then – he said my friend
A change will do you good
If you want to live our best days last
A change will do you good
Now playing in a steel drum band
No hope for fame or gold
I still chuckle when the tourists talk
And I hear my story told
I say to them, I say my friend
A change will do you good
You want to live your best days last?
A change will do you good
CHORUSI say to them I say my friend
A change will do you good
If you want to live our best days last
A change will do you good
About “A Change Will Do You Good”
This song was inspired by my own life as well as other’s lives in and around the Bahamas where it seems that things of monitory value are often happily set aside for the real important things in life, like life itself. Three of these stories came together in my mind in an instant and formed this song after receiving an e-mail from a friend of mine, Richard. The massage of this song is the fundamental essence of my personal philosophy of life. So, as times change and occasionally go sour, maybe the stories that inspired the verses will help guild your emotions to a healthier plain.
Richard told me his story of flying over to Treasure Cay and taking the ferryboat over to Green Turtle Cay. Barely with hopes of finding the top of his mast sticking out of shallow water, he found his little sloop sleeping in some mangroves nearly untouched. Floyd’s furry of 1999 hadn’t taken his jewel from him so after dislodging it from the muck, he slid on down to Elbow Cay to say hello to old friends that lost way more then their share. White sound (on Elbow Cay) had been destroyed and what use to be a growing part of the Island was now a channel between two Islands. The wonderful people of the Bahamas grouped together to rebuild and no one had a bitter bone, though many did without anything modern for a long period of time. As long as there was a palm tree left to sit under and fish in the water, life was pretty much OK.
The second verse was inspired by a dive instructor that I met in Nassau that told me his story about getting involved with a con artist that took everything he had ever worked for. Though it seemed like a sad story at first he told it as if exciting. Here was this rather old gentleman telling me how 40 years of working hard was less valuable then the happiness he had found in his new tropical wonderland. He met a younger, less experienced crew that owned a sailboat but didn’t feel comfortable setting to sea alone. Yet, the newly formed comradely was the perfect match to sail off and explore. As he finished telling his story, he sat back into his beach chair with a smile of tranquillity that few people can ever own. As the sun beat down on his face I noticed two things: He had a tremendous amount of wrinkles and all of them looked as though they had been made by smiling too much.
As for the last verse, there isn’t much to tell. I learn from what is around me and I have become happy with the important things. I’m still amazed that I can make a living doing the things I love doing. After a years of being exposed to many financially over privileged people I have come to understand that I am richer then most people are, owning nothing more then the bragging rights to my family and experiences. I’ve been able to travel the world by sailing and flying and I have always eaten well my entire life. Money’s not bad but really, what exactly is the good of collecting paper that someone has already printed on anyway? No, to me, a rich man is one that lives his idea of a perfect day, most of his days. Like Christopher Columbus once said, “Riches never made a man rich, they only made him busier.
The happiest moments in my life had little to nothing to do with a pile of goods distributed artfully through some cold mansion. My happiness has come from memorable sunsets shared with friends, watching children do silly things, a song that touches me, seeing random kindness and freedom in general. I have never been happy counting beans or maintaining status. I thank God for the things in life that have changed me to who I am today. S0, I say again, a change will do you good!
