Ode to Big Blue (but with whale facts)

, 3 min, 558 words

Tags: music

Recently heard the song "Ode to Big Blue" (by Gordon Lightfoot) at a singing circle, and I made a couple tweaks to tell a different story and improve factual accuracy a bit.

Ode to Big Blue (but with whale facts)

The oceans of the world were the home of Big Blue
She was the greatest mammal that the world ever knew
And the place that she loved best --- was the waters to the west
Around the blue Pacific she did roam

Big Blue moved alone, for a mighty blue was she
But her kindness with her calf was an awesome sight to see
She took that Little Blue and she taught them all she knew
In the making of the future she was queen

Big Blue had fifteen calves and sure, some of ‘em were sons
Though most of them fell victim to the cruel harpoon guns
Ah but she was too much wise to get caught by the gunners’ eyes
And so she lived at sea for eighty years

Now the gray whale had run and the sperm was almost done
The finbacks and the Greenland Rights had all but passed and gone
They were taken by the men for the money they could spend
We said “the killing never ends, it just goes on”

Technology’s a toss-up for our tale of Big Blue
Harpoon guns as a slaughter tool were altogether new
But at last cheap turpentine led to whaling’s long decline
A victory of progress for Big Blue

Big Blue passed away to her natural decay
Beside the Arctic Circle as she travelled up that way
She sank slow as can be to the bottom of the sea
For years she fueled an ecosystem there

The oceans of the world were the home of Big Blue
She was the greatest creature that the world ever knew
And the place that she loved best --- was the waters to the west
Around the blue Pacific she did roam

Fun whale facts

  • Blue whales aren't just the largest creature on Earth at the moment – they're the largest ever to grace our planet.
  • As for most whale species, blue whale females are larger than their male counterparts. Thus the transformation from he/him to she/her pronouns throughout
  • A typical female blue whale might have a calf every two or three years, feeding the young ones something like 200 kilograms of milk (with 40% milk fat!) per day for about eight months.
  • When a whale dies, it usually floats at the surface for a short time, then sinks to the bottom of the ocean. These whale falls are an incredible infusion of nutients into deep-ocean environments (some estimates suggest 100-200 times the annual nutrient infusion in the area they land), and can fuel thriving ecosystems for literal decades. In fact, enough whales sink to the ocean floor along whale migration routes that it's likely whale-fall-specialist organisms can migrate from whale fall to whale fall, allowing evolution of highly specific and altogether bizarre species.
  • I always thought whaling faded from favor because of environmental activism and new international laws. But in fact, the near-extinction of most species and the invention of cheaper sources of oil like coal oil and (to a lesser extent but better for rhyming) turpentine played a much larger role.