All the songs in 'Swept Away' on Broadway
The stirring new survival-adventure musical from The Avett Brothers draws on the folk-rock band’s 2004 album Mignonette and other tunes from its catalog.
A haunting story of survival, brotherhood and redemption, the new Broadway musical Swept Away recounts the impossible choices faced by four sailors after a shipwreck casts them adrift in a small lifeboat.
The songs of Swept Away are drawn from the catalog of folk-rock band The Avett Brothers, including several tunes first written for the band’s 2004 concept album Mignonette. The album is named for a real 19th-century yacht wrecked off the coast of Africa in 1888. The events following that wreck inspired Mignonette, and Tony Award-winning playwright John Logan (Red, Moulin Rouge! The Musical) expanded them into a 90-minute narrative for Swept Away, under the direction of Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening, Little Shop of Horrors).
Swept Away sails into New York's Longacre Theatre on a wave of critical acclaim, following celebrated runs at California's Berkeley Rep in 2022 and Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage in 2023, with The Washington Post declaring it a “soulful, staggering and spellbinding tale.” Stars John Gallagher Jr., Stark Sands, Adrian Blake Enscoe, and Wayne Duvall all reprise their roles.
Learn more about all the songs in Swept Away and the different albums from which they came.
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This article contains mild spoilers for Swept Away.
“Go To Sleep”
A dying man known only as Mate (Gallagher), bedridden by tuberculosis in the early 1900s, is haunted by memories of a shipwreck 22 years earlier. To release his burden, other characters encourage Mate to recount his story: “Forgive yourself, if you think you can.”
“Go To Sleep” was originally written for The Avett Brothers’ 2007 album Emotionalism. It was first performed at the WOW Hall in Eugene, Oregon, on January 23, 2007.
“Hard Worker”
Twenty-two years earlier, Mate worked aboard a whaling ship under Captain in New Bedford, Massachusetts. As the ship prepares to cast off, a man known as Little Brother (Enscoe) arrives and joins the crew, seeking a more exciting life. His "Big Brother" (Sands) follows and attempts to drag his sibling back to the family farm, but he gets stuck on the ship as well as it heads out to sea.
“Hard Worker” is one of several numbers in Swept Away first written for Mignonette.
“Nothing Short Of Thankful”
Little Brother grows closer to Mate, much to the frustration of Big Brother. Little Brother also sings of Melody Anne, the woman he left behind on land.
“Swept Away”
The musical’s title number is also drawn from the 2004 album Mignonette. The Avett Brothers recorded two other versions of “Swept Away,” one for a February 2004 EP which promoted the upcoming release of Mignonette. The other is a “Sentimental Version” which can also be found on the 2004 album.
The song features Scott Avett on banjo and lead vocals, his brother Seth Avett on guitar and lead vocals, and fellow founding band member Bob Crawford on upright bass. The “Sentimental Version” of the song features both Avett brothers and their sister Bonnie Avett on lead vocals, both brothers on guitar, and Crawford on upright bass.
“Lord Lay Your Hand On My Shoulder/Ain’t No Man”
“Lord Lay Your Hand On My Shoulder” is the show’s only musical number not drawn from a previously released Avett Brothers album. Instead, the band composed the new track specifically for Swept Away.
In the show, this new song is mashed up with “Ain’t No Man,” a track from The Avett Brothers’ 2016 album True Sadness. Together, the two make for one of the more upbeat numbers in the show. The show’s ensemble, mainly portraying the other crew aboard the ship, show off their moves in group numbers tied to both this mashup and the earlier number “Hard Worker.”
“May It Last”
The final track on the Brothers’ 2016 album True Sadness, this mournful tune was briefly titled “There Is A Sea” before the band settled on its final name. The melancholy lyrics allude to themes of accepting loss, working through pain, and continuing to push forward despite the uncertainty of humans' fragile existence.
“Murder in the City”
Big Brother cannot discourage Little Brother from pursuing the sea and seeking a more exciting life. But much as the brothers are divided, the two agree on valuing family and always staying true to each other – no matter what happens.
This song was first released on The Avett Brothers' 2008 album The Second Gleam.
“Complainte D’un Matelot Mourant”
The ship is destroyed by a ferocious storm which kills everyone aboard except Mate, Little Brother, Big Brother, and Captain (Duvall). The four survive in a single lifeboat.
On the Mignonette album, this song directly follows “A Gift for Melody Anne,” but the order is reversed for the musical.
“A Gift for Melody Anne”
Severely injured during the shipwreck, a wounded Little Brother dictates a letter to Melody Anne. Mate transcribes the letter. As he does, Mate realizes there is no one in his life for him to write to.
“A Gift for Melody Anne,” from Mignonette, employs lyrical repetition to capture the human desire for a life built on truth, open-heartedness and genuine love: “I just want my heart to be true; I just want my life to be true; I just want my song to be true.”
“Through My Prayers”
“Through My Prayers” is one of two songs from Swept Away originally written for The Avett Brothers’ 2012 album The Carpenter. In the show, the song underscores a pivotal moment in which the characters, growing ever more desperate, debate what they must do to survive — and what would happen if they couldn't all make it.
"Feels like no one understands, and now my only chance to talk to you is through my prayers. I only wanted to tell ya I care," the song's refrain goes.
“Satan Pulls the Strings”
This song from True Sadness scores the show's climactic moment in which the group makes a decision on how to survive.
“No Hard Feelings”
Mate struggles to continue recounting his tale, wracked by guilt and shame, but he's urged to finish.
The lyrics of the True Sadness song “No Hard Feelings” consider what remains of each of us after death. Will anyone remember our jealousies, our doubts, or our fears? When we leave our bodies, where do our souls go? The questions are, of course, ultimately unanswerable.
“The Once and Future Carpenter”
Mate completes his tale with this song from the Brothers' 2012 album The Carpenter. He's freed from guilt and no longer afraid to die, singing: “When the black cloak drags upon the ground, I'll be ready to surrender, and remember, well, we're all in this together.”
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Photo credit: Swept Away in Washington, D.C. (Photos by Julieta Cervantes)
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