Ballard Bridge
(Song by: John Hayden – Song & Performance Notes below)
John Hayden
LYRICS
I look to my left
I look to my right
Not a big boat in sight.
I look to my left and I look to my right
So the bridge stays down.
Over there, I can see
A big boat taller than me
When the boats come near
the cars stop here
So the bridge can draw.
Up up it goes, HEY that’s my road
Standing straight up in the air.
When the boats go through
There’s nothing to do
On the Ballard Bridge.
Down in the big boat the captain says
“Life is a breeze
I sail the oceans blue
And even the bridges open up for me.”
Down down it goes
HEY that’s my road
Slowly coming to a close
Left and right, up and down.
And now the cars go zoom zoom zoom zoom
That’s how the cars go. Zoom zoom zoom
That’s how the cars go. Zoom zoom zoom
That’s how the cars go. Zoom zoom zoom
On the Ballard Bridge.
SONG & PERFORMANCE NOTES
A children’s song about the magic of drawbridges, and the Ballard Bridge in particular. I wrote this song a little at a time over the course of a summer when my young daughter and I crossed the bridge daily.
One day our car was first in line as the bridge opened for an approaching sail boat that came up fast. Right in front of our eyes, the road lifted up, up, up – until it was standing straight up in the air! How peculiar! Meanwhile the cars lined up behind us as far as we could see. The single boat with its tall sail puttered through the bridge and on its way, barely having slowed at all. I imagined the captain and crew chuckling as all the land-lubbers fired up their cars to continue the crowded parade in the busy, busy city.
- Words and music by John Hayden
- Performed by:
- John Hayden (piano, lead vocals)
- Jordan Lock bass, vocals)
- Dan Roberts (mandolin, vocals)
- Jim Boneau (vocals)
- Recorded at Jack Straw Cultural Center