my swinging death

Lyrics

[Verse 1 - stomping sea shanty rhythm, handclaps, accordion wheeze, rough male lead vocal]
Now the rope hangs silver in the morning mist,
And the gulls all cry like they know I exist.
With the cart on the dock and the crowd in a ring,
I can taste salt and blood on the words I don’t sing.

I see Black-Eyed Molly with her lantern bare,
Lost in a storm where the sea took the air.
She laughed at the lightning, spit in the spray,
Then the waves rose up and dragged her away.

[Chorus - rousing pub chant, gang vocals, pounding boots, fiddle driving hard]
Yo-ho, haul me up, let the devil take the tide,
I’ve seen my brothers fall with the foam red at their side.
From mast to grave, from deck to deep,
Every soul I loved the sea did keep.
So swing me high and let me sway,
I’m just the last old song of the bay.

[Verse 2 - darker storytelling, tighter percussion, mournful fiddle under upbeat tempo]
There was Red Jack Tom with his knife in his teeth,
He fought like a fever in the smoke and the heat.
But the cannon spoke once, and the splinters flew,
Now he’s just a name in the tar-black blue.

And Old Saint Finn, with the prayer on his tongue,
Got caught in the rigging where the sharks all spun.
He fell through the night like a lantern gone out,
And the sea made a feast of his final shout.

[Chorus - bigger gang vocals, clapping, accordion and fiddle lifted higher]
Yo-ho, haul me up, let the devil take the tide,
I’ve seen my brothers fall with the foam red at their side.
From mast to grave, from deck to deep,
Every soul I loved the sea did keep.
So swing me high and let me sway,
I’m just the last old song of the bay.

[Bridge - sudden drop to sparse acoustic guitar, wind, haunted solo vocal]
And I remember the cook with his hands full of flame,
Burned in the galley but he cursed just the same.
And young Blue Nell, with her braid like a rope,
Crushed in the wreck when the hull lost hope.

I remember them all as the knot pulls tight,
Their eyes like stars in the salt of the night.
If I’m to hang here, let the truth be told:
I was never the bravest, just the last to grow old.

[Final Chorus - triumphant but tragic, full shanty singalong, stomps, fiddle, layered harmonies]
Yo-ho, haul me up, let the devil take the tide,
I’ve seen my brothers fall with the foam red at their side.
From mast to grave, from deck to deep,
Every soul I loved the sea did keep.
So swing me high and let me sway,
I’m just the last old song of the bay.

[Outro - fading gang vocals, distant waves, reverb-soaked final line]
Oh, the sea takes all, and it never asks why,
I’ll meet my crew where the dead ships lie.