[Verse 1]
Salt in my teeth
Union Jack stitched on my sleeve
Sun burns red on this English neck
Charts all torn
But I still believe
Caribbean glare
Hull creaks low as a pub back stair
Spyglass up
Spot green-white rags
Irish dogs in the summer air (hah!)
[Chorus]
Raise it high
Black flag in the blue
Rum on my tongue
Got a bone to chew
Shamrock steel
Redcross bruises too
Carve my name in the keel on you
Black flag in the blue (hey!)
Black flag in the blue
[Verse 2]
Barrel of fire
Molasses sweat and gunpowder choir
He yells slurs in a Cork-born bark
I answer back with a London snarl
Grapples that bite
Ships locked close like a pub crawl fight
Fists
Then blades
Then a grudging grin
"Buy you a drink if we both still live"
[Chorus]
Raise it high
Black flag in the blue
Rum on my tongue
Got a bone to chew
Shamrock steel
Redcross bruises too
Carve my name in the keel on you
Black flag in the blue (oh-woah)
Black flag in the blue
[Bridge]
We spill our blood in the same warm sea
Same cracked hands
Same bad teeth
He toasts saints
I curse the crown
But we both go up if these decks go down
[Chorus]
Raise it high
Black flag in the blue
Rum on my tongue
Still a bone to chew
Shamrock steel
Redcross bruises too
Sing our sins till the sun cuts through
Black flag in the blue (one more!)
Black flag in the blue