[Verse 1: 1970s prog-rock male lead, telling the tale over the Mellotron and tom runs] In the chart room at Port Kerrow hangs the map that rules the bay Drawn in ink by Absalom Dragon in his careful, crooked way Every rock is marked in brown there, every shoal is marked in blue And the corner past the headland has a serpent curlin' through There are teeth along its belly, there's a longship in its coil And the letters in the margin are as red as boilin' oil Every child in town can read 'em from the time that they are small And the fishermen salute 'em when they're walkin' down the hall [Chorus: prog-rock male lead, the full band rising behind him] Here be dragons, says the corner of the chart Where the ocean goes to nothin' and the soundings fall apart Every captain in the harbor turns his bow and heads for home Here be dragons, and the dragons keep their own [Verse 2: prog-rock male lead, the analog keyboard lead weaving through the guitars] Forty years the boats have turned there at the line the old man drew Forty years of thinner catches and of nets that come back through And the only man who goes out past the headland in the gray Is old Dragon in his dory at the breakin' of the day "Just my pots," he says, "just lobster, just a poor man's little haul" And he comes back ridin' heavy and he never talks at all And I'm young, and I've got debts, and I've got nothin' left to lose So one mornin' in the fog, I pick the line I'm not to cross [Chorus: prog-rock male lead, the full band rising behind him] Here be dragons, says the corner of the chart Where the ocean goes to nothin' and the soundings fall apart Every captain in the harbor turns his bow and heads for home Here be dragons, and the dragons keep their own [Bridge: prog-rock male lead, the drums rolling as the boat crosses the line] Past the headland, past the serpent, past the place the paper ends I am waitin' for the teeth, I'm waitin' for the sea to bend But there's no scale and no fire, there's no longship in a coil There's just cod so thick beneath me that the water starts to boil And there, ridin' low and heavy with a hold you couldn't close Sits old Absalom Dragon, and he's grinnin' to his toes [Reprise: prog-rock male lead, the opening verse melody returning with the whole band] In the chart room at Port Kerrow hangs the map that fooled the bay Every serpent was a fence, boys, every warning was a way To keep the richest water for the man who drew the line Here be Dragon's, read it right, boys, and now some of it is mine [Chorus: prog-rock male lead, the full band rising behind him] Here be dragons, says the corner of the chart Where the ocean goes to nothin' and the soundings fall apart Every captain in the harbor turns his bow and heads for home Here be dragons, and the dragons keep their own [End]
