I saw my first iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland and heard Great Big Sea’s fun first album of traditional music around this time, so I’m guessing that’s what put the idea for this one on my radar. The chords sound really complicated, but it was basically an exercise in shifting chord shapes and fingers in open G tuning. Fun with homonyms in the opening lines, especially for a song about icebergs. I remember feeling a great sense of relief when I finally figured out how to articulate what the iceberg in my song represented. And I kinda liked that I kept the character in limbo at the end. Icebergs take a long time to melt. Or at least they used to.
Lyrics
Friday night in a quiet corner, where the blind dates go to see / She is nice, she’s charming and gorgeous, I wonder what she thinks of me / Stay calm, it’s all right / I’ll be myself and I’ll be fine / And then it happens - the awkward silence I cannot hide with sip of wine / Always an iceberg just when I’ve got her / I do the wrong thing and I’m dead in the water / One date colliding, our fate deciding / No chance of happiness today / Always an iceberg on the way / Try again, titanic hopeful / Let courage overwhelm / I take her out and we test out the waters, leaving faith to take the helm / Stay calm, it’s alright - let the laughter hide the truth / And then I sense it, that sinking feeling / Cue the spinach on my tooth / Always an iceberg just when I’ve got her I say the wrong thing and I’m dead in the water / One date colliding, our fate deciding / No chance of happiness today / Always an iceberg on the way to my heart / A mountain wall of frozen memories of one I loved / all caught in the slow melt of time / And so it’s always an iceberg just when I’ve got her, I do the wrong thing and I’m dead in the water / One date colliding, our fate deciding - too soon for happiness today / While there's an ice berg on the way