Standard (EADGBE)
We are two Mariners, our ship's sole survivors, in this belly of a whale
It's ribs our ceiling beams, it's guts our carpeting, I guess we have some time
to kill. You may not remember me, I was a child of three, and you a lad of
eighteen. But I remember you, and I will relate to you, how our histories
interweave.
At the time you were a rake and a rastabout. Spending all your money on the
whores and hounds. Oh-oh
You had a charming air, all cheap and debonair, my widowed mother found so
sweet. And so she took you in, her sheets still warm with him, now filled
with filth and fowl disease.
As time wore on you proved a debt-ridden drunken mess. Leaving my mother a
poor consumptive wretch. Oh-oh
And then you disappeared. Your gambling arrears, the only thing you left
behind. And then the magistrate, reclaimed our small estate, and my poor
mother lost her mind.
Then one day in spring my dear, sweet mother died. But before she did I took
her hand as she dying cried, Oh-oh,
"Find him, bind him, tie him to a pole and break his fingers to splinters,
drag him to a hole until he wakes up, naked, clawing at the ceiling of his
grave, oh-oh." (Little Am fill right here)
It took me fifteen years to swallow all my tears, among the urchins in the
street. And then a priory, took pity and hired me to keep their vestry nice
and neat.
But never once in the employ of these holy men, did I ever once turn my mind
from the thought of revenge. Oh-oh.
One night I overheard, the prior exchanging words with a penetant whaler from
the sea. The captain of his ship, who matched you toe to tip, was known for a
wanton cruelty.
The following day I shipped to sea with the privateer. And in the whistle of
the wind I could almost hear, oh-oh.
"Find him, bind him, tie him to a pole and break his fingers to splinters,
drag him to a whole until he wakes up, naked, clawing at the ceiling of his
grave.
There is one thing I must say to you, as you sail across the sea. Always your
mother will watch over you, as you avenge this wicked deed.
Middle section
And then one fateful night, we had you in our sights, after 20 months at sea.
Your starboard flank abeam, I was getting my muskets clean, when came this
rumbling from beneath.
The ocean shook, the sky went black and the captain quailed. And before us
grew the angry jaws of a giant whale, oh-oh, oh, oh-oh
Don't know how I survived, the crew all was chewed alive, I must have slipped
between his teeth. But oh what providence, what divine intelligence, that you
should survive as well as me.
It gives my heart great joy to see your eyes fill with fear. So lean in close
and I will whisper the last words you'll hear, oh-oh
(repeat until end of song, get faster and faster each time)
Hope you enjoyed!