Four Hours

This song appeared in the February 2019 livestream, led by Josh Bowker. It is a TLJ original written by Josh Bowker when he was still a member of the band.

Four Hours is the third track in the 2020 album Cures What Ails Ya.

Lyrics submitted by PDPGinsu of the Longest Johns Discord, verified against the stream by Anathema Mask.

Factoids
Four Hours refers to the way watches were kept aboard sailing vessels. Traditionally, ships at sea (particularly among the British navy) kept five four-hour watches per day, and two two-hour watches. Sailors were expected to rotate in four hour shifts, serving four hours of work and four hours of rest alternating. After the second work period they would be allowed some time to rest and recover before returning to work. In a two-division system, this meant rotating the port and starboard divisions to ensure that the ship was always staffed by equally fresh workers. As time went on, it progressed to a three-division system which, notably, forms part of the basis for modern eight-hour shift work.

For particularly troublesome sailors, there was also the four-on-four-off, or 'watch-and-watch', a punishment detail where the sailor serves repeated stretches of four hour intervals without a rest interval between. It was a notable and particular savagery, brutal for the fact that just as the person serving their time finds time to rest they are being roused to return to work.

Lyrics
Come me boys and heave with me Let's get off this curs-ed sea Let's be home to lovers and wives And leave behind these four hour lives {Chorus} (Four Hours) workin' on the swell (Four Hours) Sloggin' in the rain (Four Hours) Workin' to the bell and (Four Hours) 'Til it starts again Come me boys and heave with me The wind's my friend and my enemy It carries me home but it must be tamed Everything lost or everything gained {Chorus} Come me boys and heave with me Got scabrous hands and bloody knees But when the bell tolls, I'll go below My hands will callus and my strength will grow {Chorus} Come me boys and heave away Soaked and heavy heaving under the spray Will I ever shed this salt on my brow? Better the dust from under my plow {Chorus} When I'm back in Bristol town I'll buy my love a silken gown We'll lie in each others arms and rest Un-til that bell sounds in my chest {Chorus} (Four Hours) Haulin' on the sheets! (Four Hours) Keepin' our feet! (Four Hours) Wrap me in the shroud and (Four Hours) Lay me in the ground