Track 10: Pirates of the Shawnee
Artist: Mila Maring, John Reimbold, and The Kitchen Table Crew
Written by Mila Maring, John Reimbold, and Nate Graham
Performed by:
Vocals by Mila Maring
Rhythm Guitar by John Reimbold
Lead Guitar by Kyle Triplett
Mandolin by Mark Stoffel
Bass by Nate Graham
Fiddle by Toby Merriman
Background Vocals by Jenny Pape
Audio Link= https://rivertorivercommunityrecords.bandcamp.com/track/pirates-of-the-shawnee
Cave-in-Rock is a natural limestone cliff cave most well-known for providing a base of operations for notorious Ohio River pirates such as Captain Mason in the late 18th-early 19th centuries. You can read more about those exploits in Otto Rothert’s Outlaws of Cave-in-Rock, published by SIU Press. I wish I had had Mila, John, and Nate’s song to listen to on my last trip to Cave-in-Rock in the summer of 2022. The weather was heavy and atmospheric. The dark clouds were strangely luminous with an air of foreboding—a perfect accompaniment, in fact, for the haunting progress of Charles Cane Wilson through the ballad. We started at the top of the cliff—where the penultimate event of the song takes place—and were racing the imminent threat of thunderstorms to descend down to the shoreline and enter the cave. Soon after the visit was over the torrential onslaught began—the winds and the waves driving us down the old country roads along the Mississippi River and back up north to a safe port in the storm. -SD
It’s not a secret, Mila is one of my favorite songwriters. Period. She writes with such care, grace, and cleverness. Her delivery is also so attuned to the lyrics she writes. This ballad is deeply imaginative, tragic, and leaves you hauntedly hoping it was just a dream. Her Kitchen Table crew is an expert ensemble within the genre. Overall, this tune takes me exactly where she wants me to go, and I’m so thankful for the journey. -JP
Lyrics
Ma named me Charles Cane Wilson in ‘93
Pa lies deep in the shaft of number 19
She works the days long and into the night
and I tend a Sumac fort on the hillside
I let my dreams take me to the past
Where I can be wild and strong and fast
My name is Charlie
I’m a pirate of the Shawnee
We’ve been here forever, and ever shall be
My name is Charlie
We’re the pirates of the Shawnee
I hold in my hand the sword from a man
Who is a river pirate just like me
I spotted it gleaming so powerful seeming
This bank of sand at his command
I watched down below upon the Ohio
If he returns I’ll join his fearless band
I dreamt they would come for me
To Cave-in-Rock we’d ferry
And I would bring home riches
From the pirates of the Shawnee
One night I awoke as though in a dream
To Captain Mason standing before me
Into the dark flew my Captain and me
Where soon I’d learn my savior he’d not be
Crimson daggers waving
Innocents are wailing
Darkest fears, death drawing near
My name is Charlie
I’m a captive
I’m a poor boy
They’ve been here forever, and ever shall be
My name is Charlie
I’m with the pirates of the Shawnee
In the pirates’ den I lay in ties
No riches did I find
My vision of salvation was only in my mind
By dawn’s light a torturous path
Atop the cave pirate’s wrath
I close my eyes to the wind and the water
My name is Charlie
It’s the eve of my ninth birthday
Ma waits for me at home in Rosiclare
My name is Charlie
And the current will take me there
