This Lyric is: #056

The Ballad Of The S.S.Marie
Ed Ryan
copy 2001

A long time ago on the Caspien Sea
We were working our trade on the S.S.Marie
There were seven crew members,my captain and me.

I served my dear captain for much of my life
But he wasn't the same since the death of his wife
Til his eyes and his lips looked like blades of a knife

Well, he told me he speaks to the ghost of Marie
And she says that she's waiting for him in the sea
"So, tonight, under guise of this trecherous storm,
With the crew locked below so they cannot be warned,
We are sinking the ship and Marie will be warm"

"The voices you hear are the devil,"I said
"Do you think your departed would want us all dead?"
And he aimed for the rocks and his face grew bright red
And he shouted,"She told me!"
"She told me," he said,
"of the many a night when you came to her bed."

Well,the air, it got still for a moment or so
As the men beat the doors that were locked down below
And he turned round and pointed his pistol at me
"But I love you, my captain! This is madness, you see!
For I never laid hands on your sainted Marie"

Then the rocks ripped the ship and we were thrown to the floor
And from there I cannot recall anything more
Til I found myself unlocking drowning men's doors

Well, I led them to safety in a single lifeboat
And we watched the ship sink as we laid there afloat
"But what of our captain?",the wounded men cried
"He went down with his ship, as he should," I replied
I would not have them whispering of suicide

Well, they call me a hero to this very year
As I stay on dry land and I stare into beer
But they'll never know my most secretive part
Or the love for my brother which tears me apart
For he's buried at sea with my knife in his heart

A long life ago on the Caspian Sea
We were working our trade on the S.S.Marie
There were seven crew members, my captain and me.


[This message has been edited by Brian Austin Whitney (edited 08-31-2002).]