That could have been me: This sentence stings like a knife. It occurs to someone who is already far away, in this case not over the mountains, but on the open sea. The look goes back to the coast, sees “peace on the shoreline” and then leads to the realization: “That could have been me”. But it’s a sentence with X.
The person singing here is “gone fishing”. That’s what you say in English when you disconnect for a while – or even forever. It’s now a saying on mugs and t-shirts in this country too: I’ve had enough, I’m going fishing. The fact that Chris Rea turned it into a song proves his penchant for popular connectivity, which is expressed in many hits from “Driving Home for Christmas” to “On the Beach” to “The Road to Hell”.
He doesn’t know anything about fishing
However, “Gone Fishing” is not suitable as a radio single. It is a serene ballad that makes it clear from the first few bars that her lyrical self has emerged from all contexts. The text is pretty monosyllabic, it purrs together to the statement: I’ll be gone then, you’ll never be happy anyway, and nothing I do will change that. The separation was inevitable.
The laconic joke comes between the line “I got me a line” and the simultaneous admission: “I know nothing about fishing”. He doesn’t know anything about fishing, but he runs off anyway. His defiance seems almost childlike when he adds: “But just watch me go.”
The lyrics speak for themselves, but together with the music it creates friction. Because saying goodbye isn’t that easy, you can hear that in the smoky, serene parlando tone of Chris Rea’s voice, but especially in his crying slide guitar, which finally takes over the reigns in this song.
“Gone Fishing” closes the album “Auberge,” a conceptual step into the open — but it feels like an overall legacy now, after Chris Rea died on December 22nd at the age of 74. Yes, many of his songs had sugar coating, sometimes much too thick (“Dudidudu – Heaven”). But “Gone Fishing” is a good example of the profound and enigmatic nature of his work, which was significantly richer than it might seem based on the well-known hits and which also contained bitter pieces and a lot of blues. He had many reasons to sing and play it. There is even a deep wisdom in this:
“You can waste a whole lifetime / Trying to be / What you think is expected of you / But you’ll never be free / May as well go fishing”. In the end, there remains a tension between a conciliatory ending and the knowledge that the person singing is all alone in the boat. We wave goodbye.
I’m going fishing
I got me a line
Nothing I do is gonna make the difference
So I’m taking the time
And you ain’t never gonna be happy
Anyhow, anyway
So I’m going fishing
And I’m going today
I’m going fishing
Sounds crazy I know
I know nothing about fishing
But just watch me go
And when my time has come
I will look back and see
Peace on the shoreline
That could have been me
You can waste a whole lifetime
Trying to be
What you think is expected of you
But you’ll never be free
