Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Live in New Jersey 14 March 2008

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 to 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 it's 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"
 There calls the mariner
 There comes a ship over 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 here'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"
 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
 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 towards 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 shrives the mariner of his sins
 The mariner's bound to tell of his story
 To tell this 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