The Ballad of the Rusted Bell

There’s a rusted bell on the harbor wall

Green with years and salt

We were just fools with an empty hold

And a list of debts to halt

Captain swore on a chipped tin cup

“We sail ’til we break that spell”

Wind said “go” and the gulls said “go”

So we rang that rusted bell

(Heave, ho) for the rusted bell

Ring it hard

Shake off the spell

Storm or calm

We rise

We yell

We’re bound by the sound of the rusted bell

(Heave, ho) let the old tales swell

Raise your voice

You know them well

If the sea wants souls

She’ll have to yell

To drown out the roar of the rusted bell

First trip out

Took a king’s lost chain

From a reef of broken glass

Sand in our teeth

Blood on the rope

Still we laughed it off and passed

Second run

Found a painted chest

Filled with letters never sent

Read them out loud in the lantern light

Till the whole damned crew went bent

(Heave, ho) for the rusted bell

Ring it hard

Shake off the spell

Storm or calm

We rise

We yell

We’re bound by the sound of the rusted bell

(Heave, ho) let the old tales swell

Raise your voice

You know them well

If the sea wants souls

She’ll have to yell

To drown out the roar of the rusted bell

One day soon we’ll be bones and names

Scratched in a tavern door

But that crooked bell on the harbor wall

Will sing us home once more

So drink to the crew and the cursed old swell

And the lives we lived half-right

For every lost fool who ever rang hell

Let that rusted bell ring bright (hey!)

(Heave, ho) for the rusted bell

Ring it hard

Shake off the spell

Storm or calm

We rise

We yell

We’re bound by the sound of the rusted bell

(Heave, ho) let the old tales swell

Raise your voice

You know them well

If you hear that clang from the harbor’s shell

You’re sailing again with the rusted bell