I See Hawks In L.A. - The Salty Sea Lyrics
And the continental shelfSoon gave way to the black and grayOf the mid-sea trenches with their scaly wenchesAnd their tales of the mountain elfTales of the mountain elfMe oh my, there’s a tear in my eyeBig as the salty seaCome on down, we’ll all drownDown in the salty seaThey laughed and they danced and they fiddledThey sang their ancient songsThey pulled me into the circleAnd said laddy, come alongThe black and the gray did soon give wayTo the tops of the waves and the sun dappled cavesOn the volcanic sands of a virgin landIn the 18th centuryIn the 18th centuryFive hundred nights of drinkingWith my dancing fairy friendsI came out of the fog of the gentry’s grogWoke up in the sand of Van Dieman’s landIn a planter’s chains with a brand new nameAnd they yoked me to the plowThey yoked me to the plowI burned the eucalyptusAnd I carried off the stonesFor fourteen years I worked the fieldsAnd my fingers to the boneAnd then one night the planterPlucked me from my toilHe said I understand you’re a dancing manAnd fast with a fiddle, and smack in the middle ofThe parlor I lept for the QueenI lept for the visiting QueenWell the planter he was very well pleasedAnd kind disposed to meHe invited me in to his cozy denFor cigars and porter and the social orderWas the topic of his drunken screedThe topic of his drunken screedAnd he told me:It took slavery to tame these wild landsIt took slavery to train ten thousand handsTo redirect the riverTo build the Grand CanalThe cotton fields, the pyramids, the wellNow I ask you to forgive meFor I struck a devil’s dealMy sheets are clean on this packet of steamFor the Cape I am bound and Dublin townWith southern gold in the bottom of the holdAnd my star crossed soul to trade for a loadOf Fenian rebels and Carlow boysAnd a captain I will beYes a captain I will beCHORUS
