The Cranker

Captain gladly gave the order to break up the bottled rum

To bring forth every piper and the fiddles and the drum

We heaved to in the harbour for to celebrate the spoils

To dance away our sorrows and the hardship of our toils

A new fiddler came on board in a brimmed hat as black as night

His eyes glowed fiery red, he was such a pretty sight

He swung around his crank and the strings begun to sing

Not a matie could stand still as we all joined in the ring

His feet began tapping. Ran ta ta tan

And we started dancing, hexed by his crank. His fiddle was singing, Raj day di dee

His wheel kept on spinning, and so did we!

We danced and danced and wouldn ́t stop now by neither captain ́s nor kinǵs command

And little did we notice that our ship was leaving land

Now the beat was growing stronger for each turn and every tune

Til up on the horizon climbed a full and blood red moon

A single matie left untouched, was our tone deaf drummer boy

He had never been a dancer and the beat did just annoy

He shouted to his friends The fiddlers damned! Can't you see the proof?

He taps not with his boots, but with goatish cloven hoofs

His feet they were tapping. Ran ta ta tan

Like mad we were dancing, hexed by his crank.

His fiddle was singing, Raj day di dee

His wheel kept on spinning,and so did we!

But no one listened to his warnings and the dance kept going on and on

Along the gunwale crest and back, all our I duties long foregone

Around the ship, the mast, the hull, in a triple meter reel

A line of sailors spinning, from the quarters to the keel

The swab on naked blistered bare feet, he first to the tarred deck fell

The old bosun held out longer, then his kneecaps went to hell

Our captain in her hard boots, she was stomping til the end

In trance we all kept dancing in the blood of our friends

His feet they were tapping. Ran ta ta tan

Like mad we were dancing, hexed by his crank

His fiddle was singing, Raj day di dee

His wheel kept on spinning,and so did we!

Vaulting down right off the gunwale, men and women leapt overboard.

Hand in hand down in the darkness, to a godforsaken chord

We danced the gangplank hambo, now deep down there cold and wet

The hoofed and smiling fiddler, and the crew are dancing yet

His feet they were tapping. Ran ta ta tan

Like mad we were dancing, hexed by his crank.

His fiddle was singing, Raj day di dee

His wheel kept on spinning,and so did we!