[Intro] [Low lead voice, restrained, crew answers quietly] Sail on the horizon. (SAIL ON THE HORIZON.) Merchant or navy? (TOO FAR TO TELL.) Then wake the deck. And ring no bell. [Verse 1] The sun came pale through morning haze, A square-rigged stranger crossed our gaze, No escort near, no guns we saw, No colours raised, no sign of war, The captain watched through brass and glass, Then smiled and said, “We let her pass?” [Crew] NO. [Pre-Chorus] Sharpen the steel. (SHARPEN IT WELL.) Prime every gun. (SEND THEM TO HELL.) What colour flies? (NOT YET.) Then wait. [Chorus] Raise the black when the distance closes, Raise the black when the gun smoke rises, No warning bell and no king’s decree, Only one law upon the sea, Run if you can, boys, pray if you might, We take what we came for before fall of night, And when they look back through smoke and flame, They’ll remember the morning the black flag came. [Verse 2] We trimmed our sail and turned her bow, No cheering then, no boasting now, She saw us too and turned away, But fear alone won’t save the day, Her first shot fell into the foam, Her second found its way back home, Young Ben went down beside the rail, And left his blood across the sail. [Battle Call] HOOKS! (THROWN!) LINES! (FAST!) BOARD! (BOARD!) HOLD HER MAST! Left side! (LEFT!) Mind that blade! (BEHIND YOU!) [Verse 3] We came alongside hard and fast, Hooks bit deep into her mast, Her captain stood beside the wheel, Still dressed in blue, still holding steel, He called us thieves and gutter-born, And spat at men with shirts half torn, Our captain smiled through smoke and flame, And said, “This morning bears my name.” [Chorus] Raise the black when the distance closes, Raise the black when the gun smoke rises, No warning bell and no king’s decree, Only one law upon the sea, Run if you can, boys, pray if you might, We take what we came for before fall of night, And when they look back through smoke and flame, They’ll remember the morning the black flag came. [Verse 4] We found their silver, spice and wine, Enough to make a poor man fine, But wealth looks different after blood, When boots are sticking to the wood, We cut them loose before the noon, Then wrapped young Ben beneath the boom, And all the gold we’d fought to save, Could not buy one man from the grave. [Final Refrain] Black in the morning. (BLACK IN THE SKY.) Gold in the hold. (BLOOD LEFT TO DRY.) Black on the water. (BLACK ON THE WAVE.) One ship richer. (ONE MORE GRAVE.) [Outro] [Single lead voice] At dawn we saw a merchant sail. [Crew, quiet] And raised the black. [Lead] By noon we’d taken everything. [Crew] And lost one back.
