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