There's an island hidden in the sound
Lapping currents lay your boat to ground
Affix your barb and bayonet, the curlews carve their Arabesques
And sorrow fills the silence all around
You come and see

There's a harbor lost within the reeds
A jetty caught in over-hanging trees
Among the bones of cormorants, no boot mark here nor finger prints
The rivers roll down to a soundless sea
That you come and see
Come and see

The tides will come and go witnessed by no waking eye
The willows mark the wind
And though we know for sure amidst this fading light
We'll not go home again
Come and see
Come and see

In the lowlands, nestled in the heat
A brier cradle rocks its babe to sleep
Its contents watched by Sycorax and Patagon in parallax
A foretold rumbling sounds below the deep
You come and see
Come and see

The tides will come and go witnessed by no waking eye
The willows mark the wind
And all we know for sure amidst this fading light
We'll not go home again
Come and see
Come and see

As I was a-ramble down by the water
I spied in sable the landlord's daughter

Produced my pistol then my saber
Said, "Make no whistle
Or thou will be murdered"

Lord
Lord

She cursed, she shivered
She cried for mercy
"My gold and silver
If thou will release me"

Lord
Lord
Lord

I'll take no gold, miss
I'll take no silver
I'll take those sweet lips
And thou will deliver, oh

Lord
Lord

I will dress your eyelids
With dimes upon your eyes
Lay you close to water
Green, your grave will rise

Go to sleep now, little ugly
Go to sleep now, you little fool
Forty-winking in the belfry
You'll not feel the drowning
You'll not feel the drowning

Forget you once had sweethearts
They've forgotten you
Think you not on parents
They've forgotten too

Go to sleep now, little ugly
Go to sleep now, you little fool
Forty-winking in the belfry
You'll not feel the drowning
You'll not feel the drowning

Go to sleep now, little ugly
Go to sleep now, you little fool
Forty-winking in the belfry
You'll not feel the drowning
You'll not feel the drowning

Hear you now the captain
Heave his sorrowed cry
The weight upon your eyelids
Is dimes laid on your eyes


Lyrics submitted by Nodima

The Island: Come and See/The Landlord's Daughter/You'll Not Feel the ... Lyrics as written by Colin Meloy

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management

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The Island: Come and See; The Landlord's Daughter; You'll Not Feel the Drowning song meanings
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    General Comment

    A couple corrections, as of 21 August:

    Fix -> Affix Arab best -> arabesques the reefs -> the reeds commerants -> cormorants It's -> Its ziggurats -> Sycorax photo -> foretold beneath -> below With this bare waking eye -> Witnessed by no waking eye

    Lastly, I don't think the last two lines are a quotation, though I suppose that's debatable.

    toadtwson August 21, 2006   Link

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