Intro
(Ironside! Ironside!)
Sixty-two ships at the edge of the known world...
(Hu-ha!) South past the pillars — the grey water swirled —
Every sea-chart ended — new maps unfurled —
(Ironside!) Björn took the fleet where the cold world uncurled...
Verse 1 — Björn
Ivar got the cold — I got the iron and the motion —
Two different sons — same mother — same devotion.
He took England with a mind — I took the ocean
With sixty-two hulls and a Ragnar-sized notion.
Frankish coast first — warm up — standard raiding —
Then the Strait ahead — the water's edge degrading
Every map the southern kings had been parading —
We went through anyway — the horizon invading.
Gibraltar narrow — current fighting the keel-work —
Roman pillars either side — the old world's seal-work —
We pushed through in formation — forty oars — the real work
Of entering a sea no Norse ship made a deal work.
Morocco south — the heat like Múspellsheim's border —
Balearic Islands east — we took the order
Of the whole basin as our own — no quarter —
The Mediterranean learned a new word for slaughter.
Pre-Chorus — both
Áslaug: I watched from Spangereid — the sight went further south (further south)
Björn: we wintered in the Rhône delta — spray in the mouth —
(Camargue reeds and flamingos — wrong latitude...)
Both: the Völsung blood that froze in Norway burned at the mouth
Of a sea the gods forgot to put on the route. (uh!)
Chorus — both
Sixty-two ships through the Pillars of the world (of the world!)
Iron on the hull — southern sails unfurled (sails unfurled!)
Luna gates opened — the coffin trick swirled (coffin swirled!)
Björn Ironside sailed where the map uncurled! (Hu-ha!)
Verse 2 — Áslaug
I felt the fleet leave the northern water's keeping —
Felt the warmth hit the hull while the north was sleeping —
Sigurðr's blood in Björn was always leaping
Toward the horizon past the chart's last reading.
I bore five sons for different kinds of burning —
Ivar's cold, Björn's iron, Hvítserkr's yearning,
Ubba's fury, Sigurðr's eye still turning
Fáfnir's mark on every kingdom's morning.
Björn sent Hastein into Luna's hall-gates —
The dying trick — the coffin — the small-waits
Of a man pretending death inside the tall-gates
Of a city ripe for taking at the nightfall-straits.
They baptized Hastein — gave him Christian burial —
The doors swung wide — he rose — the sword aerial —
I laughed at Spangereid — the material
Of Ragnar's sons was always immaterial
To every wall that thought a gate could hold them —
The old boar's laugh in Björn — I always told them:
The Völsung blood finds every door — I moulded
Five sons to break five different kinds of bolted.
Pre-Chorus — both
Áslaug: I watched from Spangereid — the sight went further south (further south)
Björn: we wintered in the Rhône delta — spray in the mouth —
(Camargue reeds and flamingos — wrong latitude...)
Both: the Völsung blood that froze in Norway burned at the mouth
Of a sea the gods forgot to put on the route. (uh!)
Chorus — both
Sixty-two ships through the Pillars of the world (of the world!)
Iron on the hull — southern sails unfurled (sails unfurled!)
Luna gates opened — the coffin trick swirled (coffin swirled!)
Björn Ironside sailed where the map uncurled! (Hu-ha!)
Bridge — trading
Björn: we found out Luna wasn't Rome before the morning —
(not Rome...)
Hastein's face — the disappointment — no adorning —
(not Rome...)
We took it anyway — fury without mourning —
(took it whole...)
Wrong city — right lesson — keep exploring.
Áslaug: the storm hit in the Strait on the returning —
(the storm came...)
Half the fleet on the rocks — the water churning —
(half the fleet...)
Twenty hulls came home — the rest still burning —
(twenty left...)
Twenty ships of silk and slaves still worth the earning.
Both: Ragnar sang the Krákumál in adder-venom —
(in the pit...)
Björn came home with twenty ships — the emblem
(came home...)
Of a son who sailed the sea the gods forgot — the problem
(Skál to Ironside! Skál — the furthest helm!)
(Sixty-two ships south — twenty back — still overwhelm!)
Drop — Instrumental
Chorus — both
Sixty-two ships through the Pillars of the world (of the world!)
Iron on the hull — southern sails unfurled (sails unfurled!)
Luna gates opened — the coffin trick swirled (coffin swirled!)
Björn Ironside sailed where the map uncurled! (Hu-ha!)
Outro
(Ironside! Ironside!)
Twenty ships came back through the Strait...
(Hu-ha!)
Silk and slaves and stories.
Every king in Europe
checked the water
after that.
The iron arm
sailed where the map ended.
(And came back
to tell it.)
