Bonus Content: Shawshanks

A song about ghost pirates

© Jason Phelps 2020.

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Lyrics
Well there's some sailors who take to sea To care for children at home And there's the debtors who flee to sea And those who love to roam

But all our voyages reach their close And we'll settle for good on the shore Or the cold seafoam will claim our bones And we never will sail no more

There's many who claim to love the sea Lay praise to her turbulent heart Left kindness on land for her cruelty Made taming her passion their art

But there's few who’d make so fool a claim That never they'll stray from her side So this is the tale of that pirate Shawshanks And the crew that was damned by his pride

Oh heave a ho, away we go Till sun’s past yardarm high Then drink a drop, and on don't stop Let's hope some day we die

Well who can recall those days gone of yore When we staked out our claim on the sea When alliance was promised by old Brandy's roar A place where all comers were free

There was Yang, there was Chen, there was Bloodbeard Many hated and loved joined their ranks But there's few as fair sailors, and few were as feared As that black hearted devil Shawshanks

Well he brought his fair ship round the Horne of Despair Where many a bark met their grave Sailed through storms ever blowing, to winds oh so fair Whipping sailors both coward and brave

For who else embedded those quick to turn waves As the man who would call them his wife He might kill you as soon as he'd pluck you from death With a passion that turned like a knife

Oh heave a ho, away we go Till sun’s past yardarm high Then drink a drop, and on don't stop Let's hope some day we die

When Hong Gao drowned and Brandy was crowned And Scarlet Winds harried the coast Old Shawshanks reeved with endless glee Amassed a pile greater than most

Till he came to an isle that made him smile At once cruelty wicked and hard And he wagered all of his stolen wealth For a wish upon one game of cards

Well the witch he gambled thought him snared For of course the whole game she had rigged But Shawshanks was a swindler of talent so rare That the witch found herself to be tricked

She could not call his bluff without proving enough Of her own tricks to leave her forsworn So she granted his will, with a promise most ill To make him wish he'd never been born

Oh, heave a ho, away we go Till sun’s past yardarm high Then drink a drop, and on don't stop Let's hope some day we die

Shawshanks drank a toast, and his wish was a boast To be the greatest pirate there was And to sail the seas for eternity Undefeatable by any cause

Well, the witch was sly but she did not lie When she said she'd perform the task Though it was a bet that he’d soon regret When he got exactly what he'd asked

Well for one year more did he rant and roar Shawshanks seemed to have his desire Then at Sallyhaver his fortunes did waver He met his end by cannon fire

But when battle was done and the Pirates had won On the last light of a dying day Old Shawshanks arose, without flesh or bones And his ship rose again from the bay

Oh heave a ho, away we go Till sun’s past yardarm high Then drink a drop, and on don't stop Let's hope some day we die

Well the first thing he did was to raise up a crew From the drowned who had passed in the bay Then he raided a fleet full of treasures so sweet And his spoils were the toast of the day

But when he came to land, then he found he was damned For he could not set foot on the shore Now he's doomed to roam the salten foam A pirate forevermore

Well it's been decades now, since we last saw the bow Of the silhouette cresting the wave But beware in the dark, if a mist should embark On your ship with the chill of the grave

You should hoist up your sails, and forge on without fail If you do and escape then give thanks For fortune is with you, and you've not joined the crew Of the curs’ed eternal Shawshanks

Oh heave a ho, away we go Till sun’s past yardarm high Then drink a drop, and on don't stop Let's hope some day we die

Oh heave a ho, away we go Till sun’s past yardarm high Then drink a drop, and on don't stop Let's hope some day we die

Oh heave a ho, away we go Till sun’s past yardarm high Then drink a drop, and on don't stop Let's hope some day we die