November 6 Noontime Position: Lat 47deg 06,8N; Long 166deg 43,0 E

“I follow the Moskva, down to Gorki Park Lissnin to the winds of chayy-yaynge”

 The tinny speaker-fed sound wafted out of the crew recreation room. Inside, sprawled among bar snacks and Bacardi, the Filipinos of the Hanjin Copenhagen were doing their bit to uphold (and in some cases undermine) their country’s musical reputation. That was my second night on board. Since then, most evenings have featured boozy karaoke. I’ve considered it my duty to take part, since I’m otherwise purposeless on the voyage. Here’s a partial list of my performances thus far, annotated:

“What’s Going On” – Marvin Gaye. Damn, that was bad. Was too ashamed to finish.

“Sometimes when we touch” – Dan Hill. Oh yeah, I went there. Is the honesty too much for ya? Fulfils Canadian Content requirements.

“Sweet Caroline” – Neil Diamond. A feel-good choice, which felt even better fuelled by cans of San Miguel Philippines beer. Good times never felt so good, so good, so good.

“Creep” – Radiohead. Odd to find this on the playlist. But definitely hit the sweet spot of my very limited vocal range. Fantastic belting out “What the hell am I doing here?!?” from the middle of an ocean, among Filipino sailors.

And Elvis, Clapton, Eagles, etcetera. Of course, several Tagalog-language hits are also sung. I asked the 2nd Officer what were the lyrics of a particular song. He thought about it for a moment: “The song says – “You’re ass is too big, so I give up.”? The karaoke machine shows a nonstop loop of scantily clad models and marine wildlife on the television screen. Dames and dolphins, all cavorting to vocal accompaniment of varying quality. The Steward actually has pretty good chops, and even keeps time with his own drumset. It’s fun for me to sit in, but for the Filipinos there is a certain sadness in these evenings too. The songs, invariably sentimental, pluck at heartstrings frayed by long absence from home and family.