[Intro] (A lone, melancholic accordion melody builds. A rhythmic, driving acoustic guitar enters—thrumming and percussive.) [Verse 1] The fog is a shroud on the Portsmouth quay Where the mainmast snapped like a bone I was tethered to land by a silver band And a heart that was carved out of stone My father, the Parson, he warned of the deep Of the leviathan’s hunger and greed But I traded my psalms for a boatswain’s arms And a life sown in maritime seed. [Chorus] Oh, the waves are a choir of a thousand ghosts Singing low in the hull of the Grace And the salt is a thief that’ll pilfer your youth And leave not a line on your face But I’ll stand on the pier 'til the iron turns rust With a valedictory stare For the ocean may swallow the marrow of men But it cannot unmake what is there. [Verse 2] I keep the accounts in a vellum-bound book Of the tallow, the hemp, and the grain While the merchantmen leer through the porter and beer At the widow who’s gone quite insane They say that he perished in ‘74 In the teeth of a Nor’easter gale But I’ve seen his return in the oil lamps that burn And the snap of a canvas-white sail. [Bridge] (Music swells—strings become frantic and staccato) And the urchins they whistle! And the dock-workers brawl! The empire is crumbling! We’re built for the fall! From the gallows of London to the Georgia pines The blood of the sailor is the ink in the lines! (Sudden silence, then a soft, haunting glockenspiel) [Guitar Solo] (A bright, melodic folk-rock solo with a heavy 6/8 time feel) [Verse 3] So bring me my shawl of the heaviest wool For the mercury’s starting to drop There’s a light on the reef that is bringing relief And a rhythm that never will stop The sea is a mother, the sea is a grave The sea is the debt that I owe And I’m balancing ledgers with salt-water tears In the town where the bitter winds blow. [Outro] (Fading acoustic strumming) Wait for the tide... Wait for the tide... The internecine pull of the tide... (Accordion wheezes out a final, lonely chord)
