Cape Arago

Minimal Jim Contact

Cape Arago is at lands’ end outside Coos Bay, Oregon. A song about an awesome place at the end of the road where the sea pounds the cliffs into bizarre and wonderful shapes. I lived up in the hills above the cape, in a tent for a few months my senior year, (a high school project of sorts). I rode my bicycle in and out of town and took showers at Sunset Beach State Park. This was an interesting experience to say the least and really gave me an appreciation of the Cape, the ocean and how much more practical it is to do homework in a nice warm house … :-). It was also a great place to just stand in the wind and watch the sea, with the gulls floating and diving in the air. We used to do climbing practice there too (repelling down the cliffs, Tyrolean traverses across the ocean canyons). This song was started awhile back (late 90’s) but I never finished the words until 15 years later. Hope you enjoy it!

Lyrics

By the cliffs of Arago,
the waves roll in from deep and ancient snow.

Winds blew down from northern seas,
in the air gulls flew weightlessly.

like angry Gods the storm clouds brewed,
out at sea the thunder rolled and boomed..
—–
from this field the ocean shines,
casting lights of silver into the day;
and it’s here I stand,
before the land,
were I was born and raised.
from the light of days,
above the seas,
the body sings to the world,
and my heart it mends,
as the salt air winds,
carry my worries away…
—–
and dreams oh dreams,
they flow with the sea,
they jump and run, they go and come,
the waves of our need.