[Intro] (A lonely, droning accordion note begins, joined by a rhythmic, plucking acoustic guitar and a steady, muffled drum beat like a heartbeat) [Verse 1] The loom it hums a hollow tune, a rhythmic, wooden "beat" While winter’s breath comes whistling ‘neath the doorstone at my feet My husband’s gone to reap the salt, to glean the gray-green foam With a promise etched in driftwood that he’d find his passage home. [Verse 2] But the ledger of the ocean is a cruel and heavy book It gives a pittance back for every silver life it took And I am left to bind the threads, the madder and the woad While the shadow of the headland marks the ending of the road. [Chorus] (Building intensity, adding a cello and bright mandolin) Oh, the tide is a thief with a velvet hand, the village women cry He’s sleeping in the kelp-forest where the drowned sailors lie But they don’t see the way the sea comes creeping to my gate To lick the salt-crust from the glass where I sit and I wait! [Verse 3] (Music drops to a sparse, eerie pluck) The first year: I wove a shroud of linen white to keep the ghosts at bay The second year: I dyed the wool a crimson hue to fire the freezing day The third year: I pulled the silver from my hair to stitch a shining track The fourth year: I broke the shuttle on the floor; he wasn’t coming back. [Bridge] (Orchestral swell: distorted organ and heavy floor toms) I took my shears of iron cold, I cut my heavy braid I traded in my wedding ring for a rusted anchor blade If the sea won’t bring the captain back to claim his rightful bed Then I shall walk the briny deep and claim the sea instead! [Guitar Solo - Folk Style] (A frantic, minor-key solo featuring a violin and a clean electric guitar) [Chorus] (Full volume, communal shouting-style backing vocals) Oh, the tide is a thief with a velvet hand, the village women cry He’s sleeping in the kelp-forest where the drowned sailors lie But they don’t see the way the sea comes creeping to my gate To lick the salt-crust from the glass where I sit and I wait! [Outro] I’ll wrap myself in heavy chains, a dress of iron lace... And sink into the emerald dark... to find his quiet face... (Accordion fades out slowly into the sound of crashing waves) [End]
