Go Down to the Water

Go down to the water where oil floats by
Drop your hair down and cry
And write with your finger in the sand
Mail it out with the tide.
Mail it out with the high and the low
Watch the marks in the sand
Listen to the fog on the homeless waves
And feel the salt sea in your hands.

Smell that sea wind, taste on your lips
That foam that rolls over my lost ships
And write your letter once more in the sand
Where the breaker dips and our undertow slips.
Kneel down and feel the water’s edge
Write our names side by side
And look and listen to all those ships
That toss in the fog and in the tides.

Let down your hair when you kneel down there
Let me be the wind that pulls your hair
And you be the man you made out of sand
And let your hands keep making him there.
When nobody is looking kiss your hand
And touch to the nose of your man in the sand
Then lay down with your head on his chest
Be nice, be nice to your man on the sand.

Words: Woody Guthrie (1945) | Music: Billy Bragg 
Billy Bragg: tenor banjo, vocal
Eliza Carthy: violin