Track 2 of the single Clocking Out · 2025
The Lighthouse Keeper's Radio
by Earl Dupree & The Late Shift
“A keeper, a kettle and a little radio, that's the whole story. We stripped it down to hush and let the organ hum underneath like the sea.”
jazz ballad · jazz ballad · hammond ballad · after-hours jazz · 4:34
Lyrics
Lamp is lit at half past six Kettle's on the stove Old brown radio on the sill Hum of the world he loves Dial it past the weather talk Past the static and the sea Find a slow and distant song That's keeping him company Turn it low, let it drift Out across the water Every ship that's passing by Is somebody's son or daughter I keep the light, the light keeps me The radio keeps the rest Somebody's playing a song tonight And I'm not alone out west Fog rolls in like a velvet coat Buttons up the bay A horn is moaning far off shore Then it fades away He wipes the glass and trims the wick Climbs the winding stair A trumpet drifts in through the wires Like someone's standing there Turn it low, let it drift Out across the water Every ship that's passing by Is somebody's son or daughter I keep the light, the light keeps me The radio keeps the rest Somebody's playing a song tonight And I'm not alone out west Forty winters on this rock Never missed a night Letters come with the supply boat Songs come with the light He never sees the singer's face Never learns her name But she is in the lamp room When the beam goes round again Morning pales the eastern sky He switches off the flame The radio hums a lullaby And calls him by no name He sets the cup down in the sink Smiles at the tide Whoever sang to him tonight Was singing from the other side Turn it low, let it drift Out across the water Every ship that's passing by Is somebody's son or daughter I keep the light, the light keeps me The radio keeps the rest Somebody's playing a song tonight And none of us alone out west Turn it low, let it drift The light goes round The light goes round