VIBES Web3 Music Competition Week 16 (Theme: "Roots")- "Renier & the River" (The only song my father ever wrote!)

Hello everybody on HIVE, and especially the Vibes Community. My name is Jasper, and I'm writing (and singing) to you from Cape Town, South Africa! Welcome to Week 16 of the Vibes Web3 Music Competition!

This week we have a theme: Roots! We are supposed to go back to our beginnings and share some of the first lyrics we ever learnt, or possibly the first song we ever wrote...

Well, I learnt my first 3 chord songs on guitar from my father. He couldn’t teach me much more than that because guitar wasn’t his major hobby like it became for me as I continued to grow up!

My father’s main hobby was rock-climbing and mountaineering. In fact, in his day he was one of the most celebrated and successful climbers South Africa has produced. My name “Jasper” is actually inspired by the Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies where my father had some of his most hair-raising successes… (This probably meant that his hands were more geared towards strength than dexterity, and his nails were kept short!)

It was quite something to grow up with a father who was a bit of a legend in a niche community of brave, strong men! I occasionally tried to follow dad up the odd “easy” climb and usually had a pretty scary time of it! Luckily my Dad loved music and was very supportive of my playing and writing. He also had great taste in music, and so his music collection influenced me a lot and the house often had 60’s and 70’s folk, blues and rock ‘n roll playing as I grew up. My slightly older sister also had great taste and so I got to listen to a lot of 90’s music when I was young too. My main gap is the 80’s, which I am slowly catching up on!

With a community of brave, strong rock-climbing friends, the love of the outdoors leant itself to my father learning another scary hobby – kayaking down the rapids of the South African rivers when they were raging in the winter floods (kind of like right now actually – winter set in properly about two weeks ago and we have had some major storms and flooding!)…

My father would take his friends climbing, and in turn they would take him on kayaking adventures. Well, once upon a time friends called Rikus and Jane, who were good kayakers, took my father Antony (medium skills) and Renier (less than medium skills) on a kayaking adventure. It sounds like Renier found this one particularly life-threatening, and it resulted in my father writing the only song he ever wrote… a light-hearted up-beat Buddy Holly style blues song where the chorus goes “Eskimo Roll, at the Waterfall, you can see your arse any moment at all!” – (I believe an Eskimo Roll is a trick you must learn to get upright in your kayak canoe again if you have been flipped upside down by rapids or a waterfall!)

Well, I hope you the only song my father ever wrote! Thank you for listening! Best of luck to everyone entering the Contest!

My submission link:

Lyrics to “Renier and the River” by Antony Dick (father of @jasperdick)

Antony and Renier, Rikus and Jane
Went down to the River to paddle again
On the Olifants River, River rolling on... down the canyon
Rolling down the Canyon
Eskimo roll, at the waterfall...
You can see your arse any moment at all!

Renier's eyes were the biggest of all
His nostrils flared just like a raging bull
He was looking for the syphon hole...
Rolling down the canyon
Rolling down the Canyon
Eskimo roll, at the waterfall...
You can see your arse any moment at all!

Renier's boat goes underneath a boulder
When he comes up he's clutching his shoulder
And he's yelling so loud, we knew it was over...
Rolling down the canyon
Rolling down the Canyon
Eskimo roll, at the waterfall...
You can see your arse any moment at all!

One night in Visgat (another river gorge in South Africa) was the worst of all
That was the night of the big rain fall...
The water came up and nearly floated us away...down the canyon
Rolling down the Canyon
Eskimo roll, at the waterfall...
You can see your arse any moment at all!

A long time ago now, Renier and his shoulder
We just want to know if his paddling's over
On the Olifants River, River rolling on... down the canyon
Rolling down the Canyon
Eskimo roll, at the waterfall...
You can see your arse any moment at all!
Eskimo roll, at the waterfall...
You can see your arse any moment at all!