The Porpoise Song

[Chorus]
King Boy, King Boy
King Boy, what's it all about?
Talk in riddles, talk in rhyme
Make no sense to the dumb and blind
When you gonna learn that it's time to go?

[Verse 1]
For 14 days and 14 nights
We'd trawl those northern seas
Six of us and a galley puff
In 90 foot of rust
I was just 19, a boy aboard
Jack London was my stuff
The rest of the crew were all Buckie men
But the skipper was from Macduff

In the cold, wet, the dark and the rough
The work was never done
For every four hours the chain-bell rang
With another catch to run
Then knee-deep in fish all gasping their last
And us with our blades in hand
We'd slit their throats and clean their guts
And laugh at those on land

One night alone and up on deck
Beyond old Bailey's Bank
Just me, my soul, and auroras dancing
The swirling black below
Wet with spray, and numb with cold
And fresh bile in my throat
I was counting the hours back to Peterhead
And the youth years lost afloat

The draw of the deep has a mighty strong arm
And me, I was praying to win
As we wrestled there on the starboard side
That soul was ready for sin
Then through the chunder of diesel power
And crumbling cliffs of surge
I heard a cry, a sweet lament
A clarion call so strange:

[Chorus]
King Boy, King Boy
King Boy, what's it all about?
You talk in riddles, talk in rhyme
Make no sense to the dumb and blind
When you gonna learn that it's time to go?
It's time to go, it's time to go

[Verse 2]
The porpoise is a mighty beast
Black and sleek and wild
And there, that night, we chanced to meet
Far from the banks of Clyde
And this is what he sang to me
As he leapt from wave to wave:
"Claim your crown and join the JAMs
"The world is there to save"

[Chorus]
King Boy, King Boy
King Boy, what's it all about?
(Yeah, sometimes I know, it's all so clear)
Talk in riddles, talk in rhyme
Make no sense to the dumb and blind
When you gonna learn that it's time to go?
(Go? Where?)
It's time to go
(I'm already there)
It's time to go

[Verse 3]
So here we are at the end of the year
Like monkeys to perform
With a neat scratch here and a sample there
And a snatch of macho rhyme
The twists and turns and choice of fate
Have left us where we are
Well I'm a king, I've made my choice
Now let's get to the bar!

[Chorus]
King Boy, King Boy
King Boy, what's it all about?
You talk in riddles, talk in rhyme
Make no sense to the dumb and blind
When you gonna learn that it's time to go?
(Are you taking me?)
It's time to go, it's time to go

King Boy, King Boy
King Boy, what's it all about?
King Boy, King Boy
King Boy, what's it all about?
King Boy, King Boy
King Boy, what's it all about?
King Boy, King Boy
King Boy, how do you know?