Lyrics

Down the street where all the minstrels play,
I’m your number one girl on Strawbery Banke.
Tied my corsets tight in 1842,
soliciting the sailors and howling at the moon.

You played the black keys.
I blew through the clarinet,
over cobblestones and buried bones,
watching the ghosts dance in pirouettes.

Chorus:

We watched the spirits rise.
The vagabonds and courtesans came to meet our eyes.
They knew the words and sang about the sea.
Their melodies still rolling over me.

In the winter the streets we filled with snow,
and I drank wine and cried and dreamed that I was old.
You drew a window so I could see the ships again.
Naked limbs and mandolins, the voices of my friends.

Chorus:

We watched the spirits rise.
The vagabonds and courtesans came to meet our eyes.
They knew the words and sang about the sea.
Their melodies still rolling over me.

Bridge:

Fog horns are blowing from boats you’ll never board.
Fog horns are blowin
Fog horns are blowing from boats you’ll never board.
Fog horns are blowing.

Leave your pieces of white ivory on the shore.
Leave the ladies digging, hoping to find more.

You played the black keys. I left my bottles by the sea.