• Genre: Soundtrack

Biography

The name William Clark appears in the music business with the frequency of criminals at a bail bondsman's office. Thankfully for discographers, confusing one Bill Clarke with another William Clark is not an offense punishable with jail time, even if the mistake is way out on a limb -- mixing up, for example, the reggae artist William "Bunny" Clarke of "Bush Weed Contrash" fame with the famous American explorer William Clark. Perhaps Captain Meriwether Lewis would have had a better time searching for the Pacific Ocean had the Rastaman actually been his exploration partner.

The ludicrous nature of this mistake is normalized somewhat by the fact that Captain William Clark does indeed possess credits in the recording industry, specifically regarding several soundtrack versions of a documentary about the expeditions of Lewis and Clark. A published and copyrighted narration by Murphy Guyer entitled "O! The Joy" is based on Clark's diary entries from November, 1805; the famous full sentence the title is plucked from was "Ocean in view! O! The Joy!" Like most famous quotes, it turns out to be a crock. The explorers had only gotten as far as the mouth of the Columbia River. The actual coast was still 20 miles away. Thanks to lousy weather conditions, the explorers didn't get to the Pacific for three more weeks, only slightly longer than it takes Amtrak to complete the trip. Clark's quote shows up in a variety of literary settings, including promotion for a wine company. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide