Here's a very catchy little number that a friend of mine turned me onto. I played it on my radio show today. It's called "The Mariner's Revenge Song" by The Decembrists. Very humorous and macabre. Be quick and download it here while he's still hosting it! Let me know what you think.
(An error message will appear, but click REFRESH and the download window will pop up.)
lyrics:
We are two mariners Our ships' sole survivors In this belly of a whale
It's ribs are ceiling beams It's guts are carpeting I guess we have some time to kill
You may not remember me I was a child of three And you, a lad of eighteen
But, I remember you And I will relate to you How our histories interweave
At the time you were A rake and a roustabout Spending all your money On the whores and hounds Oh Ohhhhh
You had a charming air All cheap and debonair My widowed mother found so sweet
And so she took you in Her sheets still warm with him Now filled with filth and foul disease
As time wore on you proved A debt-ridden drunken mess Leaving my mother A poor consumptive wretch Oh Ohhhhh
And then you disappeared Your gambling arrears The only thing you left behind
And then the magistrate Reclaimed our small estate And my poor mother lost her mind
Then, one day in spring My dear sweet mother died But, before she did I took her hand as she, dying, cried: Oh Ohhhhh
"Find him, bind him Tie him to a pole and break His fingers to splinters Drag him to a hole until he Wakes up naked Clawing at the ceiling Of his grave *sigh*"
It took me fifteen years To swallow all my tears Among the urchins in the street
Until a priory Took pity and hired me To keep their vestry nice and neat
But, never once in the employ Of these holy men Did I ever, once turn my mind From the thought of revenge Oh Ohhhhh
One night I overheard The prior exchanging words With a penitent whaler from the sea
The captain of his ship Who matched you toe to tip Was known for wanton cruelty
The following day I shipped to sea With a privateer
And in the whistle Of the wind I could almost hear... Oh Ohhhhh
"Find him, bind him Tie him to a pole and break His fingers to splinters Drag him to a hole until he Wakes up naked Clawing at the ceiling Of his grave
"There is one thing I must say to you As you sail across the sea Always, your mother will watch over you As you avenge this wicked deed"
[haunting, sailor-esque musical interlude lead by mandolin, accordion and tuba]
And then, that fateful night We had you in our sight After twenty months at sea
Your starboard flank abeam I was getting my muskets clean When came this rumbling from beneath
The ocean shook The sky went black And the captain quailed
And before us grew The angry jaws Of a giant whale
[instrumental noise] oh ohhhhhhhhhh [screaming] ohhhhh [screaming]
Don't know how I survived The crew all was chewed alive I must have slipped between his teeth
But, oh! What providence! What divine intelligence! That you should survive As well as me
It gives my heart Great joy To see your eyes fill with fear
So lean in close And I will whisper The last words you'll hear Ohh Ohhhhh
