So Far From The Clyde

They had a last supper the day of the beaching She's a dead ship sailing skeleton crew The galley is empty, the stove pots are cooling What's left of the stew The time is approaching, the captain moves over The hangman steps in to do what he's paid for With the wind down the tide, she goes proud ahead, steaming And he drives her hard into the shore So far from the Clyde Together we ride, we did ride As if to a wave from her bows to her rudder Bravely she rises to meet with the land Under their feet, they all feel her keel shudder The shallow sea washes their hands Later, the captain shakes hands with the hangman Climbs slowly down to the oily wet ground Goes back to the car that has come here to take him Through the graveyard and back to the town So far from the Clyde Together we ride, we did ride They pull out her cables and hack off her hatches Too poor to be wasteful with pity or time They swarm on her carcass with torches and axes Like a whale on a bloody shore line Stripped of her pillars, her stays and her stanchions When there's only her bones on the wet poison land Steel ropes will drag her with winches and engines 'Til it's only a stain on the sea So far from the Clyde Together we ride, we did ride So far from the Clyde Together we ride, we did ride