Am
We are two mariners
Am
Our ship's sole survivors
Am                 E
In this belly of a whale
E
It's ribs are ceiling beams
E
It's guts are carpeting
E                            Am
I guess we have some time to kill

Am
You may not remember me
Am
I was a child of three
Am                      E
And you, a lad of eighteen
E
But, I remember you
E
And I will relate to you
E                      Am
How our histories interweave

F
At the time you were
                   Am
A rake and a roustabout
F
Spending all your money
                  E
On the whores and hounds
 F   E
(oh, oh)

Am
You had a charming air
Am
All cheap and debonair
Am                          E
My widowed mother found so sweet
E
And so she took you in
E
Her sheets still warm with him
E                                Am
Now filled with filth and foul disease

   F
As time wore on you proved
                      Am
A debt-ridden drunken mess
F
Leaving my mother
                   E
A poor consumptive wretch
 F   E
(oh, oh)

Am
And then you disappeared
Am
Your gambling arrears
Am                        E
The only thing you left behind
E
And then the magistrate
E
Reclaimed our small estate
E                           Am
And my poor mother lost her mind

F
Then, one day in spring
                     Am
My dear sweet mother died
       F
But, before she did
                               E
I took her hand as she, dying, cried
 F   E
(oh, oh)

 Am
"Find him, bind him

Tie him to a pole and break
    F
His fingers to splinters

Drag him to a hole until he
Am
Wakes up naked

Clawing at the ceiling
       E     ( F  E )
Of his grave"

Am
It took me fifteen years
Am
To swallow all my tears
Am                        E
Among the urchins in the street
E
Until a priory
E
Took pity and hired me
E                             Am
To keep their vestry nice and neat

     F
But, never once in the employ
           Am
these holy men
    F
Did I ever, once turn my mind
                      E
From the thought of revenge
 F   E
(oh, oh)

Am
One night I overheard
Am
The prior exchanging words
Am                              E
With a penitent whaler from the sea
E
The captain of his ship
E
Who matched you toe to tip
E                         Am
Was known for wanton cruelty

    F
The following day

I shipped to sea
             Am
With a privateer
    F
And in the whistle

Of the wind
               E
I could almost hear
 F   E
(oh, oh)

 Am
"Find him, bind him

Tie him to a pole and break
    F
His fingers to splinters

Drag him to a hole until he
Am
Wakes up naked

Clawing at the ceiling
       E    ( F  E )
Of his grave

C                         G
There is one thing I must say to you
C                      G
As you sail across the sea
Am                             Em
Always, your mother will watch over you
F                         E
As you avenge this wicked deed"

Am
And then, that fateful night
Am
We had you in our sight
Am                     E
After twenty months at sea
E
Your starboard flank abeam
E
I was getting my muskets clean
                               Am
When came this rumbling from beneath

    F
The ocean shook

The sky went black
                Am
And the captain quailed
      F
And before us grew

The angry jaws
           E
Of a giant whale
 F7   E7
(oh.. oOoH)

Am
Don't know how I survived
Am
The crew all was chewed alive
Am                              E
I must have slipped between his teeth
E
But, oh, what providence
E
What divine intelligence
E
That you should survive
           Am
As well as me

   F
It gives my eye great joy
                           Am
To see your eyes fill with fear
   F
To lean in close

And I will whisper
                      E
The last words you'll hear
 F   E
(oh, oh)

[Final] Am  F  Am  E
        F  E  Am