Album: Picaresque (2005)

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• We are two mariners
  Our ships' sole survivors
  In this belly of a whale
  Its ribs are ceiling beams
  Its guts are carpeting
  I guess we have some time to kill
  
  You may not remember me
  I was a child of three
  And you, a lad of eighteen
  But I remember you
  And I will relay to you
  How our histories interweave
  
  At the time you were
  A rake and a roustabout
  Spending all your money
  On the whores and hounds
  Oh
  
  You had a charming air
  All cheap and debonair
  My widowed mother found so sweet
  And so she took you in
  Her sheets still warm with him
  Now filled with filth and foul disease
  
  As time wore on you proved
  A debt-ridden drunken mess
  Leaving my mother
  A poor consumptive wretch
  Oh, oh
  
  And then you disappeared
  Your gambling arrears
  The only thing you left behind
  And then the magistrate
  Reclaimed our small estate
  And my poor mother lost her mind
  
  Then, one day in spring
  My dear sweet mother died
  But before she did
  I took her hand as she, dying, cried
  Oh, oh
  
  "Find him, bind him
  Tie him to a pole and break
  His fingers to splinters
  Drag him to a hole
  Until he wakes up naked
  Clawing at the ceiling of his grave"
  
  It took me fifteen years
  To swallow all my tears
  Among the urchins in the street
  Until a priory
  Took pity and hired me
  To keep their vestry nice and neat
  
  But never once in the employ
  Of these holy men
  Did I ever once turn my mind
  From the thought of revenge
  Oh, oh
  
  One night I overheard
  The prior exchanging words
  With a penitent whaler from the sea
  The captain of his ship
  Who matched you toe to tip
  Was known for wanton cruelty
  
  The following day
  I shipped to sea with a privateer
  And in the whistle of the wind
  I could almost hear
  Oh, oh
  
  "Find him, bind him
  Tie him to a pole and break
  His fingers to splinters
  Drag him to a hole
  Until he wakes up, naked
  Clawing at the ceiling of his grave
  
  There is one thing I must say to you
  As you sail across the sea
  Always, your mother will watch over you
  As you avenge this wicked deed"
  
  And then, that fateful night
  We had you in our sight
  After twenty months at sea
  Your starboard flank abeam
  I was getting my muskets clean
  When came this rumbling from beneath
  
  The ocean shook
  The sky went black
  And the captain quailed
  And before us grew
  The angry jaws
  Of a giant whale
  Oh, oh, oh, oh
  
  Don't know how I survived
  The crew all was chewed alive
  I must have slipped between his teeth
  But, oh, what providence
  What divine intelligence
  That you should survive as well as me
  
  It gives my heart great joy
  To see your eyes fill with fear
  So lean in close and I will whisper
  The last words you'll hear
  Oh, oh Writer/s: Colin Meloy
  Publisher: BMG Rights Management
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 9

• Alex from PortlandThis was one plot summary that I thought was slightly more accurate:
  The story begins as the narrator, one of two survivors stranded in the belly of a whale, explains to his companion how (unknown to the companion) their lives were interwoven.
  
  The narrator details how, when he was three, his widowed mother fell in love with the companion — then an eighteen-year-old roustabout — who was charming at first but was later revealed as a gambler and womanizer. The roustabout then disappeared, leaving only his gambling debts and the mother sick with consumption. The magistrate repossessed their estate to pay for the debts and the mother later died, leaving the boy an orphan. On her deathbed, the boy's mother instructs the boy to avenge her death, telling him:
  
  "Find him, bind him, tie him to a pole and break his fingers to splinters. Drag him to a hole until he wakes up, naked, clawing at the ceiling of his grave."
  
  Fifteen years later, having found work cleaning a priory, the boy hears of a whaler captain who matches the roustabout's description and is known for "wanton cruelty". The next day he joins a privateer ship to hunt him down. After 20 months at sea, the privateer crew spots the whaling ship, but a giant whale attacks both ships before they are able to board. Everyone is killed, except the narrator and the roustabout.
  
  The narrator then tells the man who ruined his mother's life that it must have been by "providence" that only they survived, and cautions the roustabout to listen closely, as what he will be told next "will be the last words (he) will hear". Though the lyrics end here, the musical theme representing the mother's instructions is repeated several times in escalating tempo, implying the culmination of the narrator's pyrrhic victory over the roustabout.
• Reilly from Hurley, NyIt was a sailor from the roustabout's ship who was confessing, not the roustabout himself. He recognized the description of the roustabout ("the captain of his ship, who matched you toe to tip")
• Evin from Cork, Ireland'Hamlet meets Moby Dick' is how i'd describe it...
• Red from Nowhere, IaK. is correct, the whaler is confessing ("penitent whaler"). The roustabout is not the person confessing, it's a member of the roustabout's crew--the roustabout is the captain ("who matched you toe to tip". The narrator goes to sea with a privateer (pirate) and after 20 months at sea, when they have the other ship in sight and the narrator is "getting his muskets clean" (preparing to attack) the whale comes up and capsizes both ships. Everyone dies but the narrator and the roustabout. The narrator tels this tale to the captain/roustabout (and we listeners) and now he will have his revenge. Quinn is in the ballpark but he's sitting in the wrong bleachers when it comes to this review. I'm not sure where people get the idea that they were on the same ship--it says quite clearly that he went looking for the whaler on a privateer's ship.
• Matthew from Calgaryi love the chorus of this song
• K from Rock, HiI thought he overhears one of the man's sailors confessing then follows him and works the ship on which the man is captain....
• Ben from Orillia, Ontario, CanadaMuch better, Dru. Still some "questionables" though... After leaving the priory he joins up with a privateer to chase down the roustabout. When they've finaly cought up with him, after 20 months at sea, and thier ships are almost within bording distance (starboard flank a-beam) the whale comes from beneath and eats both ships. I'm pretty sure about that anyway... I never cought that about the roustabout confessing his sins! I thought he was just having a conversation with the priest. Your'se makes much more sense. thanks for helping me to understand that part.
  
  Also, I'm just clearing up the first post a little further. The mother and the roustabout are definately lovers. The boy talks about the sheets still being warm from his father when his mother brings this new man into her bed... not a big change, but I'm pretty sure that's how it is.
  
  Also, it's just my personal perception of the end of the song, but I also imagined the boy killing the roustabout with his bare hands (prolly by choking) when the music that his mother's final words were sang to plays. I suppose it can be looked at fomr different angles, but I imagined him driven by bloodlust, ending the roustabouts life brutaly and with much blood. ...hehehe
• Ashlee from HobartI thought that he hears a sailor talking about his captain who turns out the be the roustabout then he joins another crew to find him, then when he does both crews die except the narrator and the other captain (the roustabout). I could be wrong thought because i haven't listened to this song in awhile. lol
• Dru from Melbourne, AustraliaOh for goodness sakes! Quinn - did you even listen to the lyrics?? The above synopsis is wrong both factually and fails to grasp the whole point of the song (ie the song's title is REVENGE).
  
  The song opens set in the belly of a whale with the narrator confronting a man who runied his mother's life.
  
  Oh for goodness sakes! Quinn - did you even listen to the lyrics?? The above synopsis is wrong factually and fails to grasp the whole point of the song (ie the song's title is REVENGE).
  
  The song opens set in the belly of a whale with the narrator confronting a man who ruined his mother's life.
  
  The tale is then told of an opportunististic drunkard and gambling roustabout. The widowed mother was charmed into taking the roustabout in. He runs down her health, spends all her money and leaves her with is debts. She loses her tiny estate to pay these off. On her death bed she asks her son to avenge (rather brutally) her death.
  
  The song then tells of the son?s avengeance. After living on the streets for 15 years he is given menial work in the church. One night he overhears a cruel sea captain confessing his sins and realises it is the roustabout. He leaves the priory and joins the roustabout?s whaling ship.
  
  After 20 months at sea, on the eve of his preparation to confront the roustabout, the ship is attacked by a whale (a neat little side-plot of avengeance in itself) and miraculously only the boy and the roustabout survive - albeit caught in the belly of the whale. The revenge is then effected - not by the hand of the boy - but rather through his delight in watching the fear in the roustabout?s eyes in the face of imminent death. His revenge is complete when he says to the roustabout that the story of revenge will be the last words he will hear?
  

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