The Frozen Man

Last thing I remember
Is the freezing cold water
Reaching up just to swallow me whole.
Ice in the rigging and howling wind,

Shock to my body
As we tumbled in, mercy from God.
My brothers and the others
Are lost at sea,

I alone am returned to tell thee.
Hidden in ice for a century to walk
The world again, Lord have mercy
On the frozen man.

Next words that were spoken to me,
Nurse asked me what my name might be.
She was all in white
At the foot of my bed,

I said angel of mercy
I'm alive or am I dead?
My name is William James McPhee,
I was born in 1843.

Raised in Liverpool by the sea
But that ain't who I am,
Lord have mercy
On the frozen man.

It took a lot of money
To start my heart,
To peg my leg and to buy my eye.
The newspapers call me

The state of the art,
And the children,
When they see me, cry.
I thought it would be nice

Just to visit my grave,
See what kind of tombstone I might have.
I saw my wife and my daughter
And it seemed so strange,

Both of them dead and gone
From extreme old age.
See here, when I die
Make sure I'm gone,

Don't leave 'em nothing to work on.
You can raise your arm,
You can wiggle your hand,
Not unlike myself,

And you can wave goodbye
To the frozen man.

I know what it means
To freeze to death,
To lose a little life
With every breath.

To say goodbye to
Life on earth
And come around again,
Lord have mercy

On the frozen man,
Lord have mercy
On the frozen man.