The Day We Fell (2023) Lyrics

"All men live enveloped in whale-lines

All are born with halters round their necks

But it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death

That mortals realise the silent, subtle

Ever-present perils of life..."

Mainsail!

Hoist the mainsail you devils!

Cast Off!

Cast off into the open sea!

Pray the lord sails with us

Pray the wind stays behind us

I'm looking for a few good men

If your stomach is strong and your wits are keen

I'm hunting for the big white devil

I'd kill him with my own bare hands

I'd tear his heart out at the bottom of the sea

Spill the blood of the great white devil

Burn my eyes out I can't see what he's doing

The shame that I'm feeling, the day we fell

Clear my mind of all the thoughts that I'm thinking

What were we doing? I'll say farewell, raising hell

Keep your eyes overboard boys

There's gold on the mast for the first who sees

The hide of the deep sea devil

They'll say the ocean was a blood bath

I'll take the souls that he took from me

Taste the spear of Ahab you devil!

(Ahab fights The Whale)

"He piled upon the whale's white hump

The sum of all the general rage and hate

Felt by his whole race from Adam down

And then, as if his chest had been a mortar

He burst his hot heart's shell upon it!

Towards thee I roll

Thou all-destroying but conquering whale

To the last I grapple with thee

From hell's heart I stab at thee

For hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee!

A solemn white surf beat against it's steep sides

Then all collapsed and the great shroud of the sea rolled on

As it rolled five thousand years ago

Melville compares the ship to Satan

Who would not sink to hell until she had dragged

A living part of heaven along with her"