So Far From The Clyde

They had a last supper the day of the beaching

She's a dead ship sailing skeleton crew

The galley is empty, the stove pots are cooling

With what's left of the stew



The time is approaching, the captain moves over

The hangman steps in to do what he's paid for

With the wind down the tide

She goes proud ahead steaming

And he drives her hard into the shore



So far from the Clyde

Together we ride

We did ride



As if to a wave from her bows to her rudder

Bravely she rises to meet with the land

Under their feet they all feel her keel shatter

The shallow sea washes their hands



Later the captain shakes hands with the hangman

And climbs slowly down to the oily wet ground

Goes 'bout to the car that has come here to take him

To the graveyard and back to the town



So far from the Clyde

Together we ride

We did ride



They pull out her cables and hack off her hatches

Too poor to be wasteful with pity or time

They swarm on her carcass with torches and axes

Like a whale on the bloody shoreline



Stripped of her pillars, her stays and her stanchions

When there's only her bones on the wet poison land

Steel ropes will drag her with winches and engines

'Til it's only a stain on the sand



So far from the Clyde

Together we ride

We did ride



So far from the Clyde

Together we ride

We did ride