Kate & Anna McGarrigle
Kate & Anna McGarrigle
Kate & Anna McGarrigle
Kate & Anna McGarrigle
Kate & Anna McGarrigle
Kate & Anna McGarrigle
Kate & Anna McGarrigle
Kate & Anna McGarrigle
Kate & Anna McGarrigle
Kate & Anna McGarrigle
The song was an amalgamation of two different events some thirty years apart in time, which happened to Kate McGarrigle and her daughter Martha.
Martha was one day approached by am unknown man in the street, who grabbed on to her and called her Kate. The man, who turned out to be an old boyfriend...
Her hair was dyed black and she was bending down
Picking something from off the ground
She was seventeen
And he said, "Oh my God, it's Kate"
She said "No, I'm the daughter of Kate
My name is Martha, who are you?
Ma never told me, never told me 'bout you"
He put his big middle-aged hands upon her shoulders
And he looked her in the eyes
Just like a boy of nineteen would do
And she was not afraid
No, she was not afraid
Once upon a time two kids in love in a car were flyin' over mountains
Trying to catch a boat that'd take 'em up river to home...
And they raced the Matapedia
Sixty minutes sixty miles
Thirty minutes thirty miles
Twenty minutes twenty miles
Ten nine eight...
And I was not afraid
No, I was not afraid
Well we made the boat with minutes to spare
And we crossed on over to the other side
And back home, safe and sound
But I could not slow down
No, I could not slow down
And we raced the Matapedia
Sixty minutes sixty miles
Thirty minutes thirty miles
Twenty minutes twenty miles
Ten nine eight
But I could not slow down
No, I could not slow down
I was not afraid
No, I was not afraid
I could not slow down 'cause I was not afraid