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In the summer, my family spends a lot of time on a little creek in Virginia not far from the Chesapeake Bay. We catch crabs in a crab pot off the dock or buy them from the crabbers who pass by in the early morning on their crabbing boats. Once we have a couple dozen, my mom enjoys getting the whole family (especially the many little kids) involved in boiling the live crabs in the kitchen. My mom is an extremely kind and gentle woman but when it comes crabs, she is quite the opposite. The children scream, my mom screams, my brother yells and the dogs go crazy. My job is to pull the crabs out of the wooden bucket one by one with barbecue tongs and to try to put them kicking and screaming into the large pot of boiling water on the stove. Once I get one in the pot, my mom shakes some seasoning on the still kicking creature and shuts the lid on him. Pretty gruesome. Inevitably some crabs get loose and something unexpected happens. Last summer, my cousin's dog Hal got so excited by all the commotion that he jumped up and bit me really hard on the butt while I was putting a particularly feisty crab in the pot. Maybe Hal was just trying to save the crab. Anyway, this is a song for the crabs. (not for Hal)

lyrics

LYRICS:

Down at the bottom of the creek
No the crabs can’t sleep
So they wander around on the ground
Until the've found
A little something to eat

Down at the bottom of the creek
No the crabs can’t sleep
And they don’t have nothing to count
'Cause down there
They don't have any sheep

And they don't go not rock 'n' roll
They don't have hearts
But they've sure got soul
So just treat 'em kind and they'll be kind to you
'Cause crabs are people too

credits

from Green Beans & Tangerines, released March 16, 2020
Written by Walter Martin
Family Jukebox (ASCAP) 2020
Performed, recorded and mixed by Walter Martin at Cecelia's, Brooklyn

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Walter Martin New York

Walter Martin is a multi-award-winning songwriter. Martin has released seven studio albums since embarking on a solo career in 2014. His solo career follows many years of writing, playing and touring in rock 'n' roll bands The Walkmen and Jonathan Fire*Eater. ... more

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