[Intro] [Acoustic guitar strumming, minor key] [Faint sound of a creaking ship and seagulls] [Melancholic accordion swell] [Verse 1] The wind, she bellows through the rigging of the Clementine A heavy scent of brine and bitter tea They sold my hand for timber rights and casks of elder wine Now I’m wedded to the master of the sea Oh, the Commodore is handsome in his brass and navy blue With a heart as cold as iron on the deck But he treats me like a figurehead, a splintered thing to view With a heavy silver locket ‘round my neck [Chorus] [Drums kick in, driving 6/8 beat] Oh, let the Clementine go down beneath the gold Let the coral take the lace and velvet gown I’d rather be a phantom in the currents, brave and bold Than a lady in a dress who’s meant to drown! [Verse 2] [Instrumental breakdown: Mandolin and violin] He took me from the orchard where the russet apples fell And brought me to this cabin made of oak The chaplain’s voice was hollow as a tolling harbor bell While the cannon fire drifted up like smoke I traded in my cotton prints for velvet and for lace And the freedom of the moorland for the gale But I see a different woman in the mirror’s gilded face As we set our course and hoist the winter sail [Chorus] Oh, let the Clementine go down beneath the gold Let the coral take the lace and velvet gown I’d rather be a phantom in the currents, brave and bold Than a lady in a dress who’s meant to drown! [Bridge] [Tempo slows, music thins out to just a lone accordion] He speaks of mercantilism and the spice of the Levant While I whisper to the barnacles and brine He gives me every finery a lonely girl could want Except the key to make the tiller mine... [Build up with heavy floor tom hits] EXCEPT THE KEY TO MAKE THE TILLER MINE! [Guitar & Violin Solo - High Energy] [Outro] [Slower, haunting] So here’s to the girls in the harbor towns who watch the white-caps fly And the ones who sail against their own design May you find a way to break the lock or learn the way to die Underneath the rolling swells of brine... Underneath the brine... [Fade out with the sound of waves] [End]
