[Intro] [Crisp Telecaster twang, rolling acoustic rhythm, and weeping pedal steel set a fast, steady 102 BPM groove over punchy drums] [Verse 1] February in the bitter cold A frozen strait, reckless and bold Karl Gustav marches at the front line Twenty thousand men on a sheet of brine Iron wheels of the cannons roll slow A bottomless grave in the dark below Creaking sheets beneath the iron shoe The fate of the kingdom riding through No retreat across the glassy floor Pushing straight to the Danish door [Pre-Chorus] The frost splinters under the hoof No sky above, no wooden roof General Dahlbergh leads the way Panic spreading at the break of day [Chorus] March across the frozen Belts! Iron boots where the salt sea melts! Over the depths the monarch rides No ocean holds the Swedish tides From Jutland shores to Zealand sand A winter strike through the northern land! [Verse 2] Two squadrons plunge in the open rift Swallowed whole by the black tide drift No looking back, the columns advance Locked in a fatal, reckless dance The Danish crown paralyzed in dread An army rising from the frozen bed Treaty of Roskilde signed in haste Carving the map from the winter waste Scania torn from the rival's grip Blekinge seized from the broken ship [Bridge] The ice went quiet The strait is crossed Zealand trembles in the frost Across the ice! [Chorus] March across the frozen Belts! Iron boots where the salt sea melts! Over the depths the monarch rides No ocean holds the Swedish tides From Jutland shores to Zealand sand A winter strike through the northern land! [Outro] Roskilde. [Singing fiddle and pedal steel trade licks over a driving two-step, finishing on a crisp Telecaster bend]
