The Mariner's Revenge Song — The Decemberists
Chords and lyrics for The Mariner's Revenge Song by The Decemberists (key of F).
Intro
[Am]
Verse 1
[Am]We are two mariners, our ships' sole survivors
In this belly of a [E]whale
[E]Its ribs our ceiling beams, its guts our carpeting
I guess we have some time to [Am]kill
[Am]You may not remember me, I was a child of three
And you a lad of [E]eighteen
[E]But I remember you and I will relay to you
How our histories [Am]interweave
[F]At the time you were a rake and a [Am]roustabout
[F]Spending all your money on the whores and [E]hounds, [F]oh[E]
Verse 2
[Am]You had a charming air, all cheap and debonair
My widowed mother found so [E]sweet
[E]And so she took you in, her sheets still warm with him
Now filled with filth and foul [Am]disease
As [F]time wore on you proved a debt-ridden drunken [Am]mess
[F]Leaving my mother a poor consumptive [E]wretch, [F]oh[E]
Verse 3
[Am]And then you disappeared, your gambling arrears
The only thing you left [E]behind
[E]And then the magistrate reclaimed our small estate
And my poor mother lost her [Am]mind
[F]Then one day in spring my dear sweet mother [Am]died
But [F]before she did I took her hand as she dying [E]cried, [F]oh[E]
Chorus
[Dm]"Find him, bind him
Tie him to a pole and break his
[Am]Fingers to splinters
Drag him to a hole until he
[Dm]Wakes up naked
Clawing at the ceiling of his [E][F]grave"[E]
Instrumental
[Am] [G] [Am] [G] [Am] [G] [Am]
Verse 4
[Am]It took me fifteen years to swallow all my tears
Among the urchins in the [E]street
[E]Until a priory took pity and hired me
To keep their vestry nice and [Am]neat
But [F]never once in the employ of these holy [Am]men
Did [F]I ever once turn my mind from the thought of [E]revenge, [F]oh[E]
Verse 5
[Am]One night I overheard the prior exhanging words
With a penitent whaler from the [E]sea
[E]The captain of his ship who matched you toe to tip
Was known for wanton [Am]cruelty
The [F]following day I shipped to sea with a [Am]privateer
And [F]in the whistle of the wind I could almost [E]hear, [F]oh[E]
Chorus
[Dm]"Find him, bind him
Tie him to a pole and break his
[Am]Fingers to splinters
Drag him to a hole until he
[Dm]Wakes up naked
Clawing at the ceiling of his [E][F]grave[E]
Bridge
[C] There is one thing I must [G]say to you
[C] As you sail across the [G]sea
[Am] Always your mother will watch [Em]over you
[F] As you avenge this wicked [E]deed"
Interlude
[Dm] [Am] [Dm] [E]
[Dm] [Am] [Dm] [E]
[Dm] [Am] [Dm] [E]
Verse 6
[Am]And then that fateful night we had you in our sight
After twenty months at [E]sea
[E]Your starboard flank a beam, I was getting my muskets clean
when came this rumbling from [Am]beneath
The [F]ocean shook, the sky went black and the captain [Am]quailed
And [F]before us grew the angry jaws of a giant [E]whale, [F]oh[E]
Verse 7
[Am]Don't know how I survived, the crew all was chewed alive
I must have slipped between his [E]teeth
[E]But oh, what providence, what divine intelligence
That you should survive as well as [Am]me
It [F]gives my heart great joy to see your eyes fill with [Am]fear
So [F]lean in close and I will whisper the last words you'll [E]hear, [F]oh[E]
[Outro] (accelerate)
[Dm] [Am] [Dm] [E] [F] [E]
[Dm] [Am] [Dm] [E] [F] [E]
[Dm] [Am] [Dm] [E] [F] [E]
[Dm] [Am] [Dm] [E] [F] [E]
[Dm] [Am] [Dm] [E] [F] [E]
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