The Ramshackle Shanty

The shanty passed down from sailor to sailor, warning of the dangers of the legendary ghost armada knows as The Ramshackle

The below track can be played to give an idea of the general beat and pace at which the song is sung. Sailors generally describe the tone and rythym used to sing it as "slow, rolling, and ominous".

[VERSE 1]

On the waves so dark and cold,
Where sailors graves' are long foretold,
'Neath crumbling masts and drowning dead,
Waters roil and herald dread!

[CHORUS]

Stomachs drop, pressure rising, temperatures plummet;
[pause for two beats]
The dead; The dying; The ramshackle cometh!

[VERSE 2]

Sunken ships and sailors mourned,
Naught awaits but ruin and scorn,
So burn ye bodies and smash ye ships,
'til nothing's left that the dead can fix!

[CHORUS]

Stomachs drop, pressure rising, temperatures plummet;
[pause for two beats]
The dead; The dying; The ramshackle cometh!

[VERSE 3]

So let not pity cloud thy sight,
Burn ye dead and ships alike,
For all who waver and shake with fear,
Damn them both to eternal despair!

[CHORUS]

Stomachs drop, pressure rising, temperatures plummet;
[pause for two beats]
The dead; The dying; The ramshackle cometh!

[VERSE 4]

On unshakeable tide and unstoppable hull,
The Dread Armada comes in full,
Linked as one and burning with hate,
A single mind and a single fate.

[CHORUS]

Stomachs drop, pressure rising, temperatures plummet;
[pause for two beats]
The dead; The dying; The ramshackle cometh!

[VERSE 5]

So heed the words of Sailors old,
Beware the seas that churn and foam,
Winds shall wail and waves shall moan,
Herald of the end that shall be sown.

[CHORUS]

Stomachs drop, pressure rising, temperatures plummet;
[pause for two beats]
The dead; The dying; The ramshackle cometh!

[VERSE 6]

Though they'll speak of second chances,
Of the power to live as death advances,
Speaking with the faces of fathers and sons,
Ignore the lies of the dead lest ye be undone.

[CHORUS]

Stomachs drop, pressure rising, temperatures plummet;
[pause for two beats]
The dead; The dying; The ramshackle cometh!

[VERSE 7]

And thus it falls unto those like us,
Who fight for freedom at any cost,
To purge the seas and bring 'bout peace,
That this nightmare might soon cease.

[CHORUS]

Stomachs drop, pressure rising, temperatures plummet;
[pause for two beats]
The dead; The dying; The ramshackle cometh!
The dead; The dying; The ramshackle cometh!
The dead; The dying; The ramshackle cometh!

[END]

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