Shanty for the Arethusa - The Decemberists

We set to sail on a packet full of spice, rum and tea-leaves

We’ve emptied out all the bars and the bowery hotels

Tell your daughters do not walk the streets alone tonight

Tell your daughters do not walk the streets alone tonight

To tell the tale of the Jewess and the Mandarin Chinese boy

He led her down from her gilded canopy of cloth

And through her blindfold she could make out the figures there before her

And how the air was thick with incense, cardamom and myrrh

So goodnight, boys, goodnight

Say goodnight, boys, goodnight

We set to sail on a clipper that’s bound for South Australia

The weather’s warm there, the natives are dark and nubile

But if you listen quiet you can hear the footsteps on the cross-trees

The ghosts of sailors past, their spectral bodies clinging to the shrouds

So goodnight, boys, goodnight

Say goodnight, boys, goodnight