Bonus Content: Shawshanks

A song about ghost pirates

© Jason Phelps 2020.

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## Lyrics

Well there's some sailors who take to sea

To care for children at home

And there's the debtors who flee to sea

And those who love to roam

But all our voyages reach their close

And we'll settle for good on the shore

Or the cold seafoam will claim our bones

And we never will sail no more

There's many who claim to love the sea

Lay praise to her turbulent heart

Left kindness on land for her cruelty

Made taming her passion their art

But there's few who’d make so fool a claim

That never they'll stray from her side

So this is the tale of that pirate Shawshanks

And the crew that was damned by his pride

Oh heave a ho, away we go

Till sun’s past yardarm high

Then drink a drop, and on don't stop

Let's hope some day we die

Well who can recall those days gone of yore

When we staked out our claim on the sea

When alliance was promised by old Brandy's roar

A place where all comers were free

There was Yang, there was Chen, there was Bloodbeard

Many hated and loved joined their ranks

But there's few as fair sailors, and few were as feared

As that black hearted devil Shawshanks

Well he brought his fair ship round the Horne of Despair

Where many a bark met their grave

Sailed through storms ever blowing, to winds oh so fair

Whipping sailors both coward and brave

For who else embedded those quick to turn waves

As the man who would call them his wife

He might kill you as soon as he'd pluck you from death

With a passion that turned like a knife

Oh heave a ho, away we go

Till sun’s past yardarm high

Then drink a drop, and on don't stop

Let's hope some day we die

When Hong Gao drowned and Brandy was crowned

And Scarlet Winds harried the coast

Old Shawshanks reeved with endless glee

Amassed a pile greater than most

Till he came to an isle that made him smile

At once cruelty wicked and hard

And he wagered all of his stolen wealth

For a wish upon one game of cards

Well the witch he gambled thought him snared

For of course the whole game she had rigged

But Shawshanks was a swindler of talent so rare

That the witch found herself to be tricked

She could not call his bluff without proving enough

Of her own tricks to leave her forsworn

So she granted his will, with a promise most ill

To make him wish he'd never been born

Oh, heave a ho, away we go

Till sun’s past yardarm high

Then drink a drop, and on don't stop

Let's hope some day we die

Shawshanks drank a toast, and his wish was a boast

To be the greatest pirate there was

And to sail the seas for eternity

Undefeatable by any cause

Well, the witch was sly but she did not lie

When she said she'd perform the task

Though it was a bet that he’d soon regret

When he got exactly what he'd asked

Well for one year more did he rant and roar

Shawshanks seemed to have his desire

Then at Sallyhaver his fortunes did waver

He met his end by cannon fire

But when battle was done and the Pirates had won

On the last light of a dying day

Old Shawshanks arose, without flesh or bones

And his ship rose again from the bay

Oh heave a ho, away we go

Till sun’s past yardarm high

Then drink a drop, and on don't stop

Let's hope some day we die

Well the first thing he did was to raise up a crew

From the drowned who had passed in the bay

Then he raided a fleet full of treasures so sweet

And his spoils were the toast of the day

But when he came to land, then he found he was damned

For he could not set foot on the shore

Now he's doomed to roam the salten foam

A pirate forevermore

Well it's been decades now, since we last saw the bow

Of the silhouette cresting the wave

But beware in the dark, if a mist should embark

On your ship with the chill of the grave

You should hoist up your sails, and forge on without fail

If you do and escape then give thanks

For fortune is with you, and you've not joined the crew

Of the curs’ed eternal Shawshanks

Oh heave a ho, away we go

Till sun’s past yardarm high

Then drink a drop, and on don't stop

Let's hope some day we die

Oh heave a ho, away we go

Till sun’s past yardarm high

Then drink a drop, and on don't stop

Let's hope some day we die

Oh heave a ho, away we go

Till sun’s past yardarm high

Then drink a drop, and on don't stop

Let's hope some day we die