“The Queen of Coquitlam
The queen, she’s a fussy sort
Never know when she’ll give out
It’s written in the schedule
But still, I have my doubts
Hopin’ for smooth sailing
Then comes a mighty wind
In spite of where you’re going
The journey might never begin…”
So sings Wilson Creek musician Robin Atchison in his ode to the ferry dependent communities that line the Sunshine Coast.
Atchison says he wasn’t necessarily singling out the Queen of Coquitlam ferry in the song, "Well I Had Time," but instead used the name because it fit the rhythm of the song.
“The song is just responding to the uncertainty of the ferries and you know, waiting a lot and things like that. There wasn't really one incident,” said Atchison. “I think I was responding to somebody who had done a Facebook post a while ago and it sort of piqued my interest. And I thought, yeah, I should write a song about that.”
Atchison took a video of himself performing the song, which was posted on the Facebook group Sunshine Coast BC Canada. At the time this article was written, the video had been viewed more than 4,200 times.
“That's really cool,” said Atchison of the attention paid to his video. “I wasn't expecting that, you know I thought maybe a few views and people would have a chuckle out of it and that would be it.”
He notes much of his song writing is inspired by the everyday life that surrounds him on the Coast.
“They're mostly inspired by the things around me. I wrote a song called ‘Gotta Have a Home,’ which was a comment on the homelessness on the Coast,” he said. “So, yeah, I write about all kinds of things. I've written about the crows in my neighborhood. You name it, if it interests me something's gonna come.”
He said about two years ago he attempted to get disciplined with his songwriting and so started sitting down every night with his guitar, pen and paper. But Atchison soon discovered creativity is just not something you can force. Today, his approach to his craft is much more organic.
“So, most of them come pretty easy. Now, if I’ve got to work too hard at it, it just sounds like I've worked too hard at it. So, I'm very lucky with most of them,” said Atchison, who is also a sculptor. “It's like Stephen King said about his writing. He called himself an archeologist and said, ‘All the stories are out there. My job is to dig them up.’ And I kind of related to that. They're all out there. It's a weird one because I don't really have much ego involved in this. The reason being, is I see it as a gift rather than something I have ownership of.”
He adds his son appears to have inherited his love of music and helped form a Gibsons’ band called the Atchies.
Atchison, who had been visiting the Coast for more than 40 years, finally decided it to call it home 15 years ago. As a musician, he plays numerous venues up and down the lower Coast and is preparing for some upcoming shows in support of his new album Wonderin,’ which can be found on his website robinatchison.com.
You can request to hear, "Well I Had Time," this Saturday, when Atchison plays the Gibsons Public Market from 3 to 5 p.m. Gibsons
