May It Last

作曲 : The Avett Brothers/Scott Yancey Avett/Timothy Seth Avett/Robert William Jr Crawford

(Mate)

Six bells, Sir. All's well.

Shall I mark the log?

(Captain) Do you see the phosphorus on the ocean there?

All glowing and green.

It's an omen, that.

(Mate) Sir?

(Captain) The glow in the waves there.

It's meant to be an ill omen.

A portent of witches above and tempests below: of cruel weather ahead.

(Mate) You believe in such premonitions?

(Captain) I'm a sailor, I believe in everything.

I was a cabin boy at eight you know.

Spent my life at sea, hunting the whales from one ocean to the next.

Wife and children left behind,

and no regrets for that if I'm honest.

My place was always here.

(Mate) Do you truly not miss the land, Sir?

(Captain) What am I on shore?

An old man with unsteady legs.

A tiny man.

Here I'm a giant.

Here I'm a man who faces down God himself.

You're not a seafaring man by nature.

You can't understand the great tragedy of the sea.

(Mate) Tragedy, Sir?

(Captain)

There is a sea, and I am a captain

Of something unknown

Waves high as mountains

There is a key, and there is a light

Here's to times that I catch it

May it last through the night

When the engine won't turn

When the fire won't burn

Like it did when we felt it

Deep in our hearts

You're the one reason why

I look up and smile

Wishing for love

And I'm ready to forge ahead

There is a sea, and I am a captain

Of something unknown

Waves high as mountains

There is a key, and there is a light

Here's to times that I catch it

May it last through the night

(Mate) You've found the life that suits you, Sir. That's a rare thing.

(Captain) Not that it matters, when all's said.

No one wants us anymore, my friend.

No one needs whale oil.

We have paraffin now and kerosene. Kerosene.

And a whole way of life has finished just like that.

And what do we whalers do then?

Go to port? Take up some landward trade?

Sell scrimshaw to the tourists?

Or do we just disappear?

Hell, what are we but useless men hunting a vanishing prey in a dying trade?

I'm as low as they come

I'm what shouldn't be done

Filthy and lost

Still up for trying

(Captain & Mate)

Untie the rudder

Guide them away

Take me I'll serve you

Take me I'll serve

There is a sea, and I am a captain

Of something unknown

Waves high as mountains

There is a key, and there is a light

Here's to times that I catch it

May it last through the night

(Captain) May it last through the night