Standard (EADGBE)

This is the legend of eight sisters, Herald was the famous one

 It happened twenty years ago although the sea was calm

It was 1987 and winter nearly gone

 On that Friday running late with rolling off and rolling on

Trucks and cars were sleeping door by door and side by side

 Someone had to close the back door

 That day it must have slipped his mind

He was fast asleep in his cabin, tired from cleaning out the hall

 While passengers were eating, indulging duty-free-for-all

Herald of Free Enterprise

Herald of Free Enterprise

Herald of Free Enterprise

 In just ninety seconds, right down to the wire

Sailing with the doors wide open so the waves kept pouring in

 As they passed the Outer Mole the disaster could begin

A hundred yards from the shore right outside a Belgian port

 The lights went out the ship turned around and fell to starboard

Then nothing but silence, silence and the cold

Herald and her sisters never fit the mold

Herald of Free Enterprise

Herald of Free Enterprise

Herald of Free Enterprise

 In just ninety seconds, right down to the wire

Two months later she was refloated a final one-way trip exchange

 Pensioned off into the Thirld World where they named her Flushing Range

But in ’88 she broke in two, probably because of guilt

 Pride and Spirit changed their names

 They were all doomed since they were built

Herald of Free Enterprise

Herald of Free Enterprise

Herald of Free Enterprise

 In just ninety seconds, right down to the wire

This is the legend of eight sisters, Herald was the famous one

 It happened twenty years ago although the sea was calm

I was just a boy then, holding daddy’s hands

Watching on tv how Herald’s time came to an end