When I came home from the Anzio shore, I got me a job at a Shiretown store I married up quick, we had the one son My limit was hit and my race was run We raised him right and we put him through school With a gentle embrace and an iron rule Our world was shattered when we lost our son To the business end of a gangster’s gun
CHORUS
How do you go from the Bernhardt Line to chasing anonymous ships in the night? How do you live with a lingering ghost? With a run on the banks With a run on the banks
When they buried my boy of 22 years, I swore I’d do more than choke on my tears So I hardened up my heart, took up the oath And looked for ways to avenge us both Me and his mother, we never were the same, she left me one spring and I am to blame I forgot about living, forgot about her Forgot about love and the way things were
CHORUS
Sixteen guns, 25 kilos, a couple thousand rounds when we run her aground The crew bailed out and headed for the hills With a barrel of blow and a mountain of pills No arrest in her majesty’s waters, no victory for the mothers and fathers Of the young and the damned The guilty walk free to continue their trade on a cruel black sea