[Intro: Nordic folk male lead, low chant over tagelharpa and goat-horn blasts] Nei, nei, the vann knows Nei, nei, the vann knows [Verse 1: Nordic folk male lead, heavy pounding drums] All Hallows' Eve, the pier is lit with torches dipped in tar Every neighbor that I ever fed is standin' where they are 'Cause the herring left the fjord and Sigrid's cow ran dry And the man who wants my boat swears he saw me in the sky So they bind me to a chair with a rope as thick as sin And the judge reads out the old rule while the tide is comin' in "If you float, the water hates you, and the gallows keeps you high If you sink, you're clean as Sunday, and you're welcome when you die" [Hook: Nordic folk male lead, full band, roaring] Sink or swim, they said, and let the water judge Float and hang for wickedness, or drown without a grudge But I never learned to float, and, nei, I wasn't gonna drown I walked along the bottom, and I'm walkin' into town [Verse 2: Nordic folk male lead, darker, tagelharpa sawing] Then they swing me off the pier and the cold comes up like teeth And the torches turn to coins on the black roof underneath I go down past the moorings, past the anchors and the chains Past the herring that they swore I chased away with stolen rains And I'm waitin' for the floatin' and I'm waitin' for the end But the fjord just sets me down on my feet like an old friend "Kom," it says, and every knot they tied slides off me like a shawl And I'm standin' on the bottom, and I'm not afraid at all [Hook: Nordic folk male lead, full band, roaring] Sink or swim, they said, and let the water judge Float and hang for wickedness, or drown without a grudge But I never learned to float, and, nei, I wasn't gonna drown I walked along the bottom, and I'm walkin' into town [Verse 3: Nordic folk male lead, fjord-floor footfalls, the kick turns into slow heavy footsteps on the stones, one per bar, closer every bar] Up on the pier they count a hundred, and they start to cheer Then they count a thousand, and the cheerin' turns to fear 'Cause the rope comes up without me and the knot is still tied tight And the water by the ladder starts to stir in the torchlight Step, the kelp unwinds from me, step, the crabs make way Step, the stones get shallow, and I hear the judge start to pray First my hair, and then my eyes, and then the grin they didn't drown And the man who wants my boat is the first one out of town [Final Hook: Nordic folk male lead, full band, roaring, goat-horn blasts] Sink or swim, they said, and let the water judge Float and hang for wickedness, or drown without a grudge But I never learned to float, and, nei, I wasn't gonna drown I walked along the bottom, and I'm walkin' into town [Outro: Nordic folk male lead, low chant] Nei, nei, the vann knows And the vann let me go [End]
