Hear the rime of the ancient mariner,
see his eye as he stops one of three
Mesmerizes one of the wedding guests,
stay here and listen the nightmares of the sea
And the music plays on, as the bride passes by,
caught by his spell and the mariner tells his tale
Driven south to the land of the snow
and ice, to a place where nobody's been
Through the snow fog flies on the
albatross, hailed in God's name
hoping good luck it brings
And the ship sails on, back to the north
Through the fog and ice and the albatross follows on
The mariner kills the bird of good omen,
his shipmates cry against what he's done
But when the fog clears they justify him,
and make themselves a part of the crime
Sailing on and on and North across the sea
Sailing on and on and North 'til all is calm
The albatross begins with its vengeance,
a terrible curse a thirst has begun
His shipmates blame bad luck on the mariner,
about his neck the dead bird is hung
And the curse goes on and on at sea
And the curse goes on and on for them and me
"Day after day, day after day,
we stuck nor breath nor motion
As idle as a painted ship upon a
painted ocean
Water, water everywhere and all
the boards did shrink
Water, water everywhere nor any
drop to drink."
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1798-1834)
There, calls the Mariner, there comes
a ship of the line
But how can she sail with no wind in her
sails and no tide?
See...onward she comes, onward she nears,
out of the sun
See...she has no crew, she has no life,
wait but there's two
Death and she Life in Death, they throw
their dice for the crew
She wins the mariner and he belongs to
her now
Then...crew one by one, they drop down
dead, two hundred men
She...She Life in Death, she lets him
live, her chosen one
"One after one by the star dogged moon,
too quick for groan or sigh
each turned his face with a ghastly
pang, and cursed me with his eye
four times fifty living men, (
and I heard nor sigh nor groan)
with heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
they dropped down one by one."
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1798-1834)
The curse it lives on in their eyes,
the mariner he wished he'd die
Along with the sea creatures,
but they lived on, so did he
And by the light of the moon,
he prays for their beauty not doom
With heart he blesses them,
God's creatures all of them too
Then the spell starts to break,
the albatross falls from his neck
Sinks down like lead into the sea,
then down in falls comes the rain
(9:15-Solo: Adrian Smith)
(9:41-Solo: Dave Murray)
Hear the groans of the long dead
seamen, see them stir and they start to rise
Bodies lifted by good spirits,
none of them speak and they're lifeless in their eyes
And revenge is still sought, penance starts again
Cast into a trance and the nightmare carries on
Now the curse is finally lifted
and the mariner sights his home
Spirits go from the long dead bodies,
form their own light and the mariner's left alone
And then a boat came sailing toward him,
it was a joy he could not believe
The pilot's boat, his son and the hermit,
penance of life will fall onto him
And the ship it sinks like lead into the sea
And the hermit shrieves the mariner of his sins
The mariner's bound to tell of his story,
to tell his tale wherever he goes
To teach God's word by his own example,
that we must love all things that God made
And the wedding guest's a sad and wiser man
And the tale goes on and on and on..... |
