A High Wind is Rising
We are a bunch of scoundrels
Of wayward scum and thieves
Whenever there’s a place to loot
We’ll be first to the feast
Our life got no tomorrow
our time is here and now
We have no place for lazy hands
Now hoist the sails, ye scallywags!
– Heave ho! –
[1. Refrain]
Cause there’s a high wind rising
And we sail for richer skies
Our limit’s the horizon
And our freedom is the prize
Cause there’s a high wind rising
And we sail for richer skies
Our limit’s the horizon
And our freedom
– is the prize.
—
Society’s embrace is no
place for open minds
Our cannons aim for those that try
to chain our fellow kind
Whenever there’s a riot
you’ll find our flag ahead
On revolution’s winds we come
for any tyrant’s head
– Heave ho! –
[2. Refrain]
Cause there’s a high wind rising
And we sail for richer skies
Our limit’s the horizon
And our freedom is the prize
Cause there’s a high wind rising
And we sail for richer skies
Our limit’s the horizon
And our freedom
– is the prize.
—
We had a good time running
From order and the law
We have raided every port
From Nassau to the mainland’s shore
But Fortune’s fickle favor
Will only last so long
At Port-de-Paix a frigate found us
And our first mate was gone
The nine-pounders spat chain-shot
through the rigging and our twine
A second volley ripped the hull
straight to the waterline
Our navigator took a bullet
from a sniper’s nest
And as the flames found powder,
our ship was laid to rest.
—
Those of us who made it out alive
were soon found singing
Our shanties praise the ones we left behind
And those still living
—
[3. Refrain]
So ye lubbers be prepared
And listen well to our tales
For once the tide is rising
You’ll find us under new black sails
For there’s a high wind rising
And we sail for brighter skies
Our limit is the horizon
And our freedom
– is the prize.