Slow down, rolls around
And the bow comes up again.
Slide the trough and she rides on top
If we can keep her in the wind

Slow rain, decks won’t drain
Faces all gone white
Wooden whale in a heavy gale
Struggles through the night

Yo ho, heave ho
Yo ho, heave ho

If we lose the Sails or the rudder fails
We’ll all be dead by dawn
Pray to your God’s boys to even the odds
Or we’ll never make it home

Fifty a mate, hauling freight
Don’t keep the Snakes from the door
It’s that or the mines in these hard times
Along the warm Sicilian shore

The dark descends the winds won’t end
Strikes a man like a stone
Feel the gale like a demon’s wail
Brand’s terror down to the bone

There’s a man below that we took on board
At the port when we put in
We took ore and spice and honey wine
Then after sunset we took him

He sleeps below in the deep dark hold
But the captain brings him around
Pray to your God to spare us a nod
Or in an hour we’ll be drown

They empty the hold to lighten the load
Gains ‘em wood at the water line
Every man to an oar and make for the shore
But they know they don’t have time

Now they threw lots to see who’s guilty or not
The bones all point to him
What can we do to bring us through
Tell us your God’s whim

To calm the seas take ahold of me
Cast my life to the deep
Save yourselves from the raging swells
Commit your faith to the sea

It takes a hardened hand to kill a man
Be he friend or foe
The captain waits, hesitates
Bloods a ways to go

But in the end to save his men
They cast him over the side
In the eerie calm the ship sails on
They all assume he died

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