Loot
Hymnal Index | Ship's Company Website
Melissa Williamson
If you're fitting out a longship bound to raid the English coast
And it's spring and you're still desperate for a crew
To man the rowing benches And fill out your fighting host,
I tell you what you're going to have to do.
Just a small appeal to greed that's the touch you really need
To quicken up the courage at the root
You can hear the call for miles In the North and all the Isles
Then say you'll come to England for the loot.
CHORUS:
Oh it's the loo-loo-loo-loo-loo-loo-loo-loo-loot
The loot, the loot, oh, there's loot, tons of loot
Lot's of stuff whose present ownership is moot.
We needs Swedes and Norse and Danes
Who will part some English Thanes
With the broadsword from their loo-loo-loo-loo-loot
Hey! Thor and Odin lead us to the loo-loo-loot!
Tell about the English pennies struck in silver, every one,
With Latin runes and pictures stamped out clear.
Tell how once you fight the English And you've got them on the run
They'll pay you to fight someone else that year.
Tell how once the corpse is cold there's no-one who'll give more gold
Than an Angle or a Saxon or a Jute.
Just the bracelets off his arm Will buy a longship or a farm
And they're waiting for the ones who'll find the loot.
If you want to raid an Abbey in North Umbria or Kent
Or clean out a Wessex mead hall roof to floor
Let our fishermen and farmers Know that plunder's your intent
And they'll do the job and help you hunt for more.
It's a long cold road to row down to where the waters flow
From the sweet and handsome Humber to the sea
But they'll pull with might and maim And they'll never once complain
'Cause they know that stolen silver isn't free.