Ferry Tale

I'd never heard of Gerry and the Pacemakers before. Apart from growing up in awe at the antics, exploits and heroics of Liverpool FC's goalkeepers, I was never a fan of any Merseyside team. So it was with a slightly jaundiced eye that I noticed I had become a fan of the song Ferry, Cross the Mersey.

It's a typical 60s song that in this age, half a century later, evokes a typical 'Golden Age' nostalgia for a time that one hardly ever knew. Yes, I was born in that era, but the song antedates me. It was #8 in the UK in 1964 and #6 in the US (of all places) in the succeeding year. However, a 1989 version hit #1 for three weeks. Most recently, I heard my DJ cousin playing it late at night on the radio.

What exactly does it evoke? And how?

In me, it evokes a heartfelt yearning for a less complicated time. It begins with "Life goes on day after day / Hearts torn in every way..." and continues later with "People they rush everywhere / Each with their own secret cares..." In between, the singer asks the Mersey Ferry to cross the river and bring him over it to the place he calls home.

It's a place where people everywhere seem to smile, don't care what his name is, and will never turn him away. It's a place he loves.

I think almost everyone needs a place like that. Some of us will indeed have to cross a river to find it. Some of us will have to remember to carry the ferryman's fee. But all of us have some sort of yearning for some sort of home.