This melody was written and performed and made popular by English jazz clarinettist Acker Bilk (1929-2014), whose original name for the piece was ‘Jenny’. But when in 1961 the BBC screened a TV series ‘Stranger on the shore’, written by Sheila Hodgson, Bilk’s composition was chosen as the theme for the series, so renamed accordingly. The song went on to spend fifty five weeks at the top of the UK singles charts for that year, and the best selling record in the USA for 1962
‘Stranger on the shore’ was later used in the American romantic comedy movie of 1998 ‘There’s something about Mary’. That film tells the story of four men who are all in love with the same girl, Mary, played by Cameron Diaz. When released, the film was the third highest-grossing movie of that year in the USA, and was top when shown in the UK in September of that year.
The lyrics tell of a girl parted from the man she loves, who has returned to his ship leaving her to stand on the shore watching, waiting, wondering ‘Shall I just be a lonely stranger on the shore’ , and pleading ‘My love, return’. For the romantically inclined among us, this is a tear-jerker!
I watched your ship as it sailed out to sea
Taking all my dreams
And taking all of me.
The sighing of the waves
The wailing of the wind
So, why now all these nostalgic memories?
Well, it’s Easter.
Yes. So what has that got to do with Stranger on the Shore, and Mary, and all that jazz?
The essential Easter IS about the Stranger On The Shore. Although not in the setting of entertainment, or comedy, and romance. But in the context of the Gospel Story; John’s Gospel, to be precise. (chapter 20)
Following the traumatic and disturbing scenes and events at Calvary on Good Friday, some time later by the Lake in Galilee, Jesus was the Stranger on the Shore. His disciples, depressed and down hearted because they had seen their Master die, when they thought He going to be the fulfilment of their dreams as Messiah, had gone back to fishing. As they were hauling in their catch, they spotted this Figure on the shore – but did not recognise who He was at first. When they did realise who this ‘Stranger on the shore was’, their individual and collective lives were transformed.
These disciples, and Mary, found through personal experience what He meant when he had said,
‘ .. through this faith you may possess eternal life by his name.’
The human condition shows plainly the highs and the lows of experience. It is the stuff of life, of love, of relationships (or lack of them) of work, of plans, of hopes, of dreams. All of these things make life and living and loving rocky at times. Then He steps in – invited – and brings stability to the business of living. Introducing that element of faith, that belief there is a way out of whatever mess a person may be in. There is nothing magic about it, in the usual sense of that term. Just that there is another perspective on life which we may not readily be seeing.
Unless we have discovered the relevance of this ‘Stranger on the shore’.
Acker Bilk on YouTube : https://youtu.be/h2xvKqaZI_w
Perceptions & Pictures 