[Verse 1] The sky turned black at the stroke of midnight The barometer fell like a stone The rigging screamed and the deck hands trembled The captain faced the dark alone He'd sailed these waters thirty long winters He'd felt the breath of the deep before But nothing ever like this black fury That hunger'd for him to the core [Pre-Chorus] He gripped the wheel with bleeding hands He roared above the wind Not one of you will die this night We'll break her, or we'll bend! The bosun prayed on broken knees The boy had gone stone pale But the captain's eyes burned cold as iron And steady as a nail [Chorus] Ride her through the storm Every soul is worn Hold the line till the sails are torn We were born for the storm [Verse 2] The mainmast cracked at the second hour The pumps were losing the fight A boy of sixteen wept at the capstan The captain looked him in the eye Fear is just the shadow of courage Stand up, son — let it pass He lashed himself to the broken foremast And swore this night would not be their last [Pre-Chorus] The cook, the bosun, the surgeon's mate They answered to a man Shoulder-deep in the black and the bilge They held each other's hands And somewhere in that howling darkness Between the deep and sky The captain raised his voice like thunder Not one of you will die! [Chorus] Ride her through the storm Every soul is worn Hold the line till the sails are torn We were born for the storm [Bridge] And then — silence... Like the whole world held its breath A crack of gold on the eastern water The long cold fingers of death... ...slowly letting go The wind fell down to a whisper The waves rolled long and slow The captain fell to his knees on the deck And wept in the morning glow [Outro] She rode low, ragged, broken and scarred Her sails all torn and black But the flag still flew at the tip of the mast And every man looked back At the darkness fading behind them At the light ahead on the sea And the captain laughed — God, how he laughed — She held, boys... she held us free Iron and tide... Iron and tide... We are iron and tide...
