The Black Flag

(Verse 1)
A thousand leagues on a rotting hull—
Yo-ho-ho and a pirate’s toll!
We left the bones of the harbor gull—
Yo-ho-ho and a pirate’s toll!
The Captain’s heart was a piece of flint,
With a jagged scar and a devil’s squint,
And the silver coin had a bloody tint,
From the merchantmen we stole.
(Chorus)
Yo-ho-ho and a pirate’s toll!
Drink to the ghosts of the breaker’s shoal—
Yo-ho-ho and a pirate’s toll!
(Verse 2)
The King’s own frigate was heavy-set,
Yo-ho-ho and a pirate’s toll!
We tangled her in a crimson net,
Yo-ho-ho and a pirate’s toll!
We swarmed the rails in a smoke-filled gale,
With a sharpened edge and a tattered sail,
And we left the survivors to weep and wail,
In a grave that’s black and cold.
(Verse 3)
The gold is piled in the shadows deep,
Yo-ho-ho and a pirate’s toll!
But the eyes of the drowned men never sleep,
Yo-ho-ho and a pirate’s toll!
A black flag flies in the midnight air,
Over hollow ribs and a skull that’s bare,
And there ain’t no mercy or hollow prayer,
For the men of the gallows-pole.
(Verse 4)
Ten men left of a hundred-strong—
Yo-ho-ho and a pirate’s toll!
The rope is thick and the drop is long—
Yo-ho-ho and a pirate’s toll!
The tide is high and the sun is red,
With the iron chains for a bridal bed,
And the devil’s waitin’ to count the dead,
As the heavy bells do knoll!
(Outro)
Yo-ho-ho and a pirate’s toll!
The black flag high.
The white bone dry.
The devil’s soul.
The pirate’s

Ominous a cappella, rattling chains, deep bass echoes, haunting group chant, rhythmic wood thumps, dark minor key