[Intro] (A lone acoustic guitar strumming a waltz rhythm, joined slowly by a mournful accordion and a bowed upright bass) [Verse 1] My knuckles are knots in the root of an oak My fingers are parboiled and pink From scrubbing the starch and the coal-dusted smoke At the edge of the riverbank’s brink Oh, the Magistrate’s wife wears a petticoat white Or it was, 'til the mud dragging down And I’m down on my knees in the fading of light For a half-penny coin and a frown [Chorus] Scrub the linen and wring the sheet The water is cold and the water is sweet And the secrets you carry, discreet and unmeet Will vanish in lye and the rain Oh, vanish in lye and the rain [Verse 2] Now the Captain came down with his breeches of blue With a dark, rusted spot on the thigh He said "It is claret, good woman, be true" But he wouldn't looked me in the eye For wine is a purple that fades to a gray But blood holds the iron of men I took up my board and I scrubbed it away So the Captain could wear it again [Instrumental Interlude] (Upbeat accordion solo with heavy percussion, folky and jagged) [Verse 3] I saw a pale girl floating by in the reeds With a blue-breeched leg in her hand A token of love, or of terrible deeds That the river has brought to the sand So I washed out the murder, I washed out the sin I rendered the fabric like new But the water turned red as the tide rushed it in And the Magistrate asks where are you? [Bridge] (Tempo slows, music becomes sparse and eerie) Oh, the lye burns the skin But it cleanses the soul? No, it only removes What the gentlefolk stole (Tempo builds rapidly, drums kick in) What the gentlefolk stole! [Chorus] So scrub the linen and wring the sheet The water is cold and the water is sweet And the secrets you carry, discreet and unmeet Will vanish in lye and the rain Oh, vanish in lye and the rain! [Outro] (Repeat fading out) Out, damned spot Wring it out, wring it out The river knows what you did Wring it out... (Final accordion wheeze) [End]
