Sittin' on the Shoreline (Standing on the Corner, Frank Loesser)

Smokey: Do you have any idea how badly I wanna kill you?
Jacob: Yes.
Smokey: One of these days, sooner or later... I'm going to find a loophole, my friend.
- The Incident

I've written quite a few LOST filksongs to tunes performed by Celtic Thunder, my favorite contemporary band, but I've never tackled one of Damian McGinty's, which has been increasingly agitating me lately since he happens to be the one member of the group that actually likes the show. And when I say likes, I mean loves, with an obsessive fervor I recognize all too well. So this one, to the tune of Standing on the Corner, the Frank Loesser song he covers in the group's newest release, is written especially for Damo.

It's a counterpoint to Tallies, Time and Tapestries, which has Jacob serenely meditating on his meeting with his as-yet-unnamed nemesis, which is depicted in the opening scene of The Incident. Here, the entity affectionately known as Smokey (and about a dozen other nicknames) responds to Jacob with rather less grace. Nonetheless, I can't help feeling a bit sympathetic to his position, and find in his stance a glimmer of sympathy for the castaways "whose lives [Jacob] wasted".

I think Jacob will have the upper hand in the end, but that Smokey will not necessarily be vanquished outright. Unlike, say, Voldemort, Smokey appears to have some sense of morality, and he also appears to have an understanding of what it means to be human. Martin Keamy and Anthony Cooper may well have been sociopaths who never truly loved anyone in their lives, but I don't think this quite applies to our shape-shifting friend. And while Jacob works against him, he seems to harbor little animosity toward He Who Must Not Be Named (because what we really needed was another mystery on LOST). Moreover, I'm starting to suspect that even these two answer to someone. So while I hope Jacob scores a spectacular victory, I can't helping rooting for Smokey's remorse and redemption, and thinking he's more Darth Vader than Sauron.

Sittin' on the Shoreline

Sittin' on the shoreline watchin' all the ships come in.
Sittin' on the shoreline watchin' all the ships come in.
Jacob, I don’t think you know how much this bores me.
Oh, what a waste this has all been,
This sittin' on the shoreline watchin' all the ships,
Watchin' all the ships, watchin' all the ships come in.

We are stuck at two extremes.
Had it up to here with all your schemes.
Had it up to here with all your clout.
So I’m off to find a loophole,
And when I do, I’ll kill you and finally get out!

Sittin' on the shoreline watchin' all the ships come in.
Sittin' on the shoreline waitin’ till they start to sin.
Jacob, it’s you who so haughtily ignores me,
You who insists that we begin
By sittin' on the shoreline watchin' all the ships,
Watchin' all the ships, watchin' all the ships come in.

We are stuck at two extremes.
Had it up to here with all your schemes.
Had it up to here with all your clout.
So I’m off to find a loophole,
And when I do, I’ll kill you and finally get out!

Jacob, I guess you would say that I’m a cynic.
Well, you’re naive, my noble twin
Sittin' on the shoreline watchin' all the ships,
Watchin' all the ships, watchin' all the ships come in.