MilliHelen

Lyrics

[Intro]
Step right up to the gangway, ladies
Keep the line moving

[Verse 1]
Turn your profile to the morning glare
Let me get the brass calipers right in your hair
Don't flinch at the cold metal against the bone
I am grading the grace of the entirely unknown
That’s a sharp enough jaw for a flat-bottomed skiff
With a patched canvas sail, if I’m grading it stiff
It’s a science we do on the edge of the pier
So we know exactly what is launching this year

[Chorus]
Oh, step up to the waterline, let the harbor decide
We got a ruler for the cheek, we got a plumb line for the pride
It’s a heavy thing to carry, all that timber in your smile
Just a fraction of a war, waiting in single file
Yeah, the fleet's gotta float, and the math never lies

[Verse 2]
Your sister came through and she yielded a brig
But her eyes are just slightly too terribly big
Now you, with the freckle right under the lash
That’s a thirty-foot cutter bought in heavy hard cash
And the copper sheathing on the hull of the thing
Will gleam like the wedding band you’re trying to wring
Out of some poor sailor who is drowning at sea
But I don't write the rules, don't you look at me

[Chorus]
Oh, step up to the waterline, let the harbor decide
We got a ruler for the cheek, we got a plumb line for the pride
It’s a heavy thing to carry, all that timber in your smile
Just a fraction of a war, waiting in single file
Yeah, the fleet's gotta float, and the math never lies

[Bridge]
My eye cuts a stranger in half on the street
Before my brain registers the shoes on her feet
It’s a reflex, a habit, this sorting of parts
A terrible way to go looking for hearts
But the ledger needs ink and the empire needs wood
And I’d give you a galleon if I only could

[Verse 3]
So hold still while I carry the two and the four
There's a dinghy in there, maybe something much more
But you're staring right back with a slant to your brow
And you're sizing me up from the stern to the bow

[Outro]
You look at my clipboard, you look at my shoes
You're doing the math on the things I can use
I'm holding the ruler, I'm standing so tall
But you wouldn't launch a single rowboat for me
At all