The dead still laugh

Lyrics

[Verse 1 - weathered male vocal, sparse accordion and hand drums, creaking ship ambience]
We set out at dawn with the salt in our eyes,
Old flags in the wind and a fire in our cries,
My crew stood tall while the black waves rolled,
With a chest full of curses and a heart of gold.
But the sea don’t favor the bold for long,
It hums through the night like a lonesome song,
And one by one, as the fog rolled in,
I watched my brothers vanish into the brine.

[Chorus - rousing group shanty, stomping rhythm, gang vocals, swelling fiddle]
Heave, boys, heave, though the tide pulls down,
Raise your voice to the moon and the drowned.
I’m the last man left with a ghostly crew,
Sailing on, though I don’t know why or to where or through.
Oh, sing for the ones who were lost at sea,
Their names in the foam and the dark beneath me,
Heave, boys, heave, let the sorrow rise,
For I still hear their songs in the midnight skies.

[Verse 2 - darker storytelling vocal, low fiddle drone, muffled drumbeat]
It started with whispers beneath the planks,
Then lanterns went dim and the compass sank,
No blade, no storm, no cannon’s roar,
Just silence creeping across the floor.
Tom fell first with a stare so wide,
Like he’d seen the deep in the water’s eye,
Then Annie laughed once, then ceased her tune,
And the rest were gone by the next full moon.
I searched each bunk and I called each name,
But the sea just answered with a cold blue flame.

[Chorus - fuller harmonies, stronger stomp, fiddle and chorus voices]
Heave, boys, heave, though the tide pulls down,
Raise your voice to the moon and the drowned.
I’m the last man left with a ghostly crew,
Sailing on, though I don’t know why or to where or through.
Oh, sing for the ones who were lost at sea,
Their names in the foam and the dark beneath me,
Heave, boys, heave, let the sorrow rise,
For I still hear their songs in the midnight skies.

[Bridge - stripped back, lone voice with mournful a cappella feel, distant wind]
If I reach the shore where the warm lights glow,
Will I still be the man that I used to know?
Or am I cursed to drift till the oceans sleep,
With the dead at my back and the deep, deep deep?
I keep their laughter in my weathered chest,
Like a map to the grave and a place of rest,
If the sea must take what the sea calls due,
Then take me last, when the stars fall through.

[Final Chorus - triumphant but haunted, full shanty ensemble, pounding feet, soaring fiddle]
Heave, boys, heave, though the tide pulls down,
Raise your voice to the moon and the drowned.
I’m the last man left with a ghostly crew,
Sailing on, though I don’t know why or to where or through.
Oh, sing for the ones who were lost at sea,
Their names in the foam and the dark beneath me,
Heave, boys, heave, let the sorrow rise,
For I still hear their songs in the midnight skies.

[Outro - fading gang vocals, wind, distant bell, reverb-soaked refrain]
Ohhh... lost at sea...
Ohhh... lost at sea...
Their names on the waves, their bones in the deep,
And I sail with the ghosts that the ocean keeps...