The Privateer - Isidore, Steve Kilbey

Morning is coming and I must away

Over the green fields of the sea

No man can tell you, no no man can say

Oh the monsters and mirages are waiting for me

I pack up my feelings, I store all my hurt

I lock up my heart in an old memory

Walk down the gangplank and walk down the aisle

Walk a mile in my shoes up the rocks and the scree

I’ve been undermined, I’ve been undefined

I’ve been so inclined and I’ve been so lonely

I’ve been underfed and I’ve nearly been bled

And I’ve been nearly dead and I nearly been free

I’ve been a woman and I’ve been a man

And I’ve been a child when I shouldn’t be

I’ve been a winner and a sinner and saint

And I’ve been had for dinner and the third degree

But I saw the cannon and I saw the flash

As I smelt the fear and the melted debris

But the privateer is still waiting here

There were islands of women as dark as the night

And cannibals and kings and things unholy

But the privateer is still waiting here

During the voyage around capes of ice

The sea serpents hissed as it crushed us like mice

And the balmy nights of Shangri-Las

Drunk on pink gin and the old jealous stars

They rationed the water and the daughters of the chief

And medals for heroes and whips for the thief

In the admiral’s cabin with his grand chandelier

But the privateer is still waiting here

There were maps of the stars that guided our keel

And dolphins and seals swam the uncharted sea

But the privateer is still waiting here