[Verse 1 – Male Lead, soft and eerie] There’s a ship that sails with no name writ, Her sails are stitched with sailor spit. Her crew don’t breathe, her helm don’t turn— Yet through the fog, she still returns. The figurehead weeps rusted tears, Her mast’s a gallows for forgotten years. And every night the lanterns swing— To songs the drowned and damned still sing. [Chorus – Full band, slow stomp, ghostly harmony] Oh row, ye bones, in salt and ash, Through broken hulls and thunder’s crash. No grave awaits, no final bed— The sea remembers all her dead. We sail ‘neath stars that never shine, Our curse is blood, our chains divine. So ring the bell and hold your breath— This ship still sails on winds of death. [Verse 2 – Female Backing Whisper, Male Lead grows in fury] [Female Whisper] (“Heave the ropes… lash the sin…) (The tide don’t care where you’ve been…”) [Male Lead] I watched them sink, their lungs all torn, But each one rose at devil’s horn. With barnacled hands and salt-bit eyes, We swore to haunt where honor dies. Our compass broke, our charts all bled, But still we hunt where sailors dread. A name, a face—just flotsam now, The sea won’t keep your sacred vow. [Chorus – Repeat with rising tempo and harder percussion] Oh row, ye bones, in salt and ash, Through broken hulls and thunder’s crash. No grave awaits, no final bed— The sea remembers all her dead. The rudder groans, the anchors cry, But ghostships never say goodbye. So raise the flag, it’s soaked in red— We sail with screams the drowned once said. [Bridge – Instrumental break, storm FX + organ + violin solo] [*Creaking wood… *] [*gulls wailing… *] [*a bell tolls once…*] [Spoken – Male Voice] “To every soul who stole from sea— we come not for gold, but company.” [Final Chorus – Slowed first half, accelerates into end] Oh row, ye bones, in salt and ash… The tide won’t stop, it only thrashes. We ain’t alive, but we’re not gone— We sail 'til memory's wreck is done. So strike the drum and breathe no more— This cursed crew rides evermore. The salt that binds, the dread we wed— We are the sea. We are the dead. [Outro – Whispered female line, faint gulls and wave hiss] “They never sank… they only drifted… Forever bound to tide and twisted.”
