100 Songs of Summer #49 “Walk on the Ocean” by Toad the Wet Sprocket
As we begin the second half of our countdown, the Top 100 Songs of Summer pays tribute to that mighty and powerful yet often serene and beautiful thing that brings so many of us to these East End shores. The band may have a funny name, but Toad the Wet Sprocket created something special with their ’90s rock ballad “Walk on the Ocean.”
Hamptons 100 Songs of Summer #49
“Walk on the Ocean” by Toad the Wet Sprocket
Released on TWS’s 1991 album Fear, this song uses an odd triple metre arrangement, much more common in classical music. The title might have you believe it’s a song about Jesus Christ, but the lyrics to “Walk on the Ocean” are rather poetic and open to interpretation. From the first line, lead singer Glen Phillips delivers a melancholic story that hints at travel, fear (the album’s title) and regret. It’s a magical and bittersweet picture with images so many East Enders well know. After all, the ocean here is rarely without its stone, wood, water, flesh and bone. We can always bring the rest.
So give it a listen during your next trip east and consider how easily this could be about a summer trip to the Hamptons and subsequent return to the workaday world in New York City.
Now we’re back at the homestead
Where the air makes you choke
And people don’t know you
And trust is a joke
We don’t even have pictures
Just memories to hold
That grow sweeter each season
As we slowly grow old