The Decemberists - The Mariner's Revenge Song lyrics

rate me

We are two mariners

Our ships' sole survivors

In this belly of a whale

Its ribs our ceiling beams

Its 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 roustabout

Spending all your money

On the whores and hounds

Oh Ohhhhh

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 foul disease

As time wore on you proved

A debt-ridden drunken mess

Leaving my mother

A poor consumptive wretch

Oh Ohhhhh

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 Ohhhhh

"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

*sigh*"

It took me fifteen years

To swallow all my tears

Among the urchins in the street

Until 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 Ohhhhh

One night I overheard

The Prior exchanging words

With a penitent whaler from the sea

The captain of his ship

Who matched you toe to tip

Was known for wanton cruelty

The following day

I shipped to sea

With a privateer

And in the whistle

Of the wind

I could almost hear...

Oh Ohhhhh

"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

"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"

[haunting, sailor-esque musical interlude lead by mandolin, accordion and tuba]

And then that fateful night

We had you in eye sight

After twenty 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

[instrumental noise]

Oh Ohhhhhhhhhh

[screaming]

Ohhhhh

[screaming]

Don't know how I survived

The crew all was chewed alive

I must have slipped between his teeth

But, O! 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

Ohh Ohhhhh