Page 83
Mariner's Revenge, The
by The Decemberists
[Am] We are two mariners, our ships' sole survivors
In this belly of a [E] whale
Its ribs our ceiling beams, its guts our carpeting
I guess we have some time to [Am] kill
You may not remember me, I was a child of three
And you a lad of [E] eighteen
But I remember you and I will relate to you
How our histories inter- [Am] weave
[F] At the time you were a rake and a rousta- [Am] bout
[F] Spending all your money on the whores and [E] hounds, [F] oh [E]
[Am] You had a charming air, all cheap and debonair
My widowed mother found so [E] sweet
And so she took you in, her sheets still warm with him
Now filled with filth and foul [Am] disease
[F] As time wore on you proved a dead-ridden drunken [Am] mess
[F] Leaving my mother a poor consumptive [E] wretch, [F] oh [E]
[Am] And then you dissapeared, your gambling arrears
The only thing you left be- [E] hind
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
Throw him to a hole until he
[Dm] Wakes up naked
Clawing at the ceiling of his [E] grave" [F] [E]
[Am G Am G Am G Am]
[Am] It took me fifteen years to swallow all my tears
Among the urchins in the [E] street
Until a priory took pity and hired me
To keep their vestry nice and [Am] neat
[F] But never once in the employ of these holy [Am] men
Did I [F] ever once stir my mind from the thought of [E] revenge, [F] oh [E]
[Am] One night I overheard the prior exhanging words
With a penitent whaler from the [E] sea
The captain of his ship who matched you toe to tip
Was known for wanton [Am] cruelty
[F] The 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
[C] There is one thing that 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] x4
And [Am] then that fateful night we had you in our sight
After twenty months at [E] sea
Your starboard flank a beam, I was getting my muskets clean
when came this rumbling from [Am] beneath
The [F] ocean stirred 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]
[Am] Don't know how I survived, the crew all was chewed alive
I must have slipped between his [E] teeth
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, oh
(Outro:)
[Dm Am Dm E F E] x4
In this belly of a [E] whale
Its ribs our ceiling beams, its guts our carpeting
I guess we have some time to [Am] kill
You may not remember me, I was a child of three
And you a lad of [E] eighteen
But I remember you and I will relate to you
How our histories inter- [Am] weave
[F] At the time you were a rake and a rousta- [Am] bout
[F] Spending all your money on the whores and [E] hounds, [F] oh [E]
[Am] You had a charming air, all cheap and debonair
My widowed mother found so [E] sweet
And so she took you in, her sheets still warm with him
Now filled with filth and foul [Am] disease
[F] As time wore on you proved a dead-ridden drunken [Am] mess
[F] Leaving my mother a poor consumptive [E] wretch, [F] oh [E]
[Am] And then you dissapeared, your gambling arrears
The only thing you left be- [E] hind
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
Throw him to a hole until he
[Dm] Wakes up naked
Clawing at the ceiling of his [E] grave" [F] [E]
[Am G Am G Am G Am]
[Am] It took me fifteen years to swallow all my tears
Among the urchins in the [E] street
Until a priory took pity and hired me
To keep their vestry nice and [Am] neat
[F] But never once in the employ of these holy [Am] men
Did I [F] ever once stir my mind from the thought of [E] revenge, [F] oh [E]
[Am] One night I overheard the prior exhanging words
With a penitent whaler from the [E] sea
The captain of his ship who matched you toe to tip
Was known for wanton [Am] cruelty
[F] The 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
[C] There is one thing that 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] x4
And [Am] then that fateful night we had you in our sight
After twenty months at [E] sea
Your starboard flank a beam, I was getting my muskets clean
when came this rumbling from [Am] beneath
The [F] ocean stirred 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]
[Am] Don't know how I survived, the crew all was chewed alive
I must have slipped between his [E] teeth
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, oh
(Outro:)
[Dm Am Dm E F E] x4