Raise the Black Flag

Verse 1

Salt on my tongue and a storm in my chest

The harbor lights are sinking slow

I signed my name on a captain's list

For a map that no one knows

My mother wept at the water's edge

My father said nothing at all

Just handed me a rusted blade

And watched me climb the wall

Pre-Chorus

So raise the black flag high

Let the coward men go home

Raise the black flag high

We sail for gold and bone

Chorus

Yo ho we take the sea tonight

Yo ho we take the sea

The navy runs the merchant hides

Yo ho we take the sea

Yo ho we take the sea tonight

Yo ho we take the sea

No king can chain a man who's free

Yo ho we take the sea

Verse 2

The quartermaster counts the shot

The cook has burnt the stew again

We buried Tommo off the rocks

And drank to where he'd been

The charts are torn the compass spins

The lookout swears he saw a light

Could be a reef could be a fleet

We'll find out by midnight

Pre-Chorus

So raise the black flag high

Let the coward men go home

Raise the black flag high

We sail for gold and bone

Chorus

Yo ho we take the sea tonight

Yo ho we take the sea

The navy runs the merchant hides

Yo ho we take the sea

Yo ho we take the sea tonight

Yo ho we take the sea

No king can chain a man who's free

Yo ho we take the sea

Bridge

And when the powder's gone

And when the rum runs dry

We'll sell the ship for one last round

And toast the men who died

Toast the men who died

Guitar Solo

Chorus

Yo ho we take the sea tonight

Yo ho we take the sea

The navy runs the merchant hides

Yo ho we take the sea

Yo ho we take the sea tonight

Yo ho we take the sea

No king can chain a man who's free

Yo ho we take the sea