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
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, I 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
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
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
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