“Seagull,” 1974, from Bad Company,

Songwriter: Paul Rodgers.

Seagull Sonneta

Free seagull, resourceful, intelligent,

In ancient ages, its name known as mew.

Migrating bird breeds on each continent,

If threatened, en masse they may attack you.

Seagulls swim, fly and walk equally well,

Predacious; fish, crabs, on all prey they feed.

Fearless, peck whale’s flesh, appetites to quell,

Beach bird friends share my lunch, apple core seed.

Loquacious, loud gulls hover shore’s fringes,

Noise annoys, yet habitat they measure.

Awesome soar, sweep, capture- jaw unhinges;

Huge clam dropped on rock; crack open, devour.

Free seagulls, like us, must do what you do;

Pooping pests, what would beach be without you?---Lisa Cole-Allen

Bad Company, one of my favorite rock groups, led by the British-

Canadian singer-songwriter, Paul Rodgers, was surely bad, at a

time when bad could mean good or bad could mean bad-ass. 

Rodgers stated that he wrote the introspective “Seagull,” while

on the beach.  In my research, I found a comment by a woman

claiming that Rodgers had stolen “Seagull” from her guitarist-

composer late husband, Michael Nelson.  She says the band’s

name reflects them for what they are, “rotten thieves” whose

“karma will come around for what they did.”   Despite this

uncorroborated statement, Paul Rodgers remains credited for

the composition of “Seagull.”  This listener believes that Rodgers,

whose roots were in the late 'sixties British rock group, Free, has

indeed written this magnificent poem-song for the autonomous,

feisty sea bird.

“Seagull”

Seagull, you fly across the horizon
Into the misty morning sun. 
Nobody asks you where you are going,
Nobody knows where you're from.

Here is a man asking the question
Is this really the end of the world?
Seagull, you must have known for a long time
The shape of things to come.
Now you fly, through the sky, never asking why,
And you fly all around 'til somebody

Shoots you down
Seagull you fly, seagull you fly away.

And you fly away today 
And you fly away tomorrow
And you fly away, leave me to my sorrow. 

Seagull, go and fly,
Fly to your tomorrow,

Leave me to my sorrow, fly.

Seagull, you fly across the horizon
Into the misty morning sun. 
Nobody asks you where you are going,
Nobody knows where you're from.

The rich imagery and pretty rhymes of the first verse observes

 the seagull as it flies freely, its destination as well as its

origination unknown to the onlooker.

Here is a man asking the question
Is this really the end of the world?
Seagull, you must have known for a long time
The shape of things to come.

The observer wishes he could communicate with the seagull

in this thoughtful passage which acknowledges both the gull’s

longevity and its wisdom.  Born in 1949, baby boomer Rodgers

grew up when worldwide fear of nuclear war was acute. The panic

that the world will end when a super power drops the fatal bomb

was reflected in movies, television docudramas, as well as in the music

 of the times. “Seagull” was written in the early ‘seventies when a young

adult Rodgers reflected on the world situation as he marveled at the

freedom of the seabirds.

Now you fly, through the sky, never asking why,
And you fly all around 'til somebody

Shoots you down
Seagull you fly, seagull you fly away.

And you fly away today 
And you fly away tomorrow
And you fly away, leave me to my sorrow. 

Seagull, go and fly,
Fly to your tomorrow,

Leave me to my sorrow, fly.

The speaker wishes to be more like the seagull that goes

about the business of life accepting fate without question.

But the narrator is overwhelmed with sadness in the

knowledge that the seagull’s birthright is freedom until

“somebody shoots you down.” He urges the seagull to

“go and fly to your tomorrow, leave me to my sorrow, fly.”

The pensive ballad, “Seagull,” strikes a chord in my heart

whenever I hear it.  This gorgeous poetry in song speaks

of life and fear of its untimely end, of freedom and its loss

as told by the flight of the seagull.