The Water Takes

Intro - Low Tom Roll & Shanty Call

Way, hey, hold your lantern tight!

Way, hey, they're crawling through the night!

Verse 1 - The Saltwater Butchers

I left the harbor at quarter past three

With a compass gone and a ghost for a mate

Strapped my boots to the rickety rail

Chasing tails that the tide can't shake

Nessie cut a shining curve at dawn

Stronsay rolled like a barrel gone wrong

U-28 slid through the diesel black

Kraken's ink in a squall's attack

Chorus - Full Band, Gang Vocals

Oh, haul the rope, boys, haul the rope!

Twenty-one names on the ocean's slope!

Call the monsters from the rocks and foam!

Sing 'em loud till the salt gets home!

Verse 2 - The Freshwater Teeth

Dobhar-chú chewed through the mountain stream

Megalodon still bites through the dream

Champ's grey humps on the Champlain swell

Ogopogo drags the green down to hell

Memphre roars past the Quebec pines

Caddy gallops with a horse's spine

Lake Van hums on the Turkish shore

San Clemente waves from the ocean floor

Pre-Chorus - Half-time Breakdown

Globster fat on the sand and stone

Zuiyo-maru shivered to the bone

Coelacanth swims like a fossil reborn

Altie hides where the marsh gets torn

Chorus - Bigger

Oh, haul the rope, boys, haul the rope!

Twenty-one names on the ocean's slope!

From Altamaha down to Thetis Bay

The water shakes and the water weighs!

Bridge - Sea Shanty Call & Response

Call: Otter-bodied lake thing, silent creep!

Crew: WAY HEY, SHE BREAKS THE SLEEP!

Call: Horse-neck serpent, ink and fang!

Crew: WAY HEY, THE BELLS ARE CLANGED!

Guitar Solo / Final Verse - Slow, Heavy

So if the water bubbles, hold your breath

Every pond and harbor hides a little death

Log it in the ledger from '85 to today

Twenty-one below and they all came to play

Outro Chorus - Shout It

Haul the rope, boys, haul the rope!

Mermaid, serpent, squid on the slope!

Call the monsters till the morning long!

Here's your rock and roll shanty, sing the water wrong!