Mike Watt – Topsiders lyrics

on the bridge in command stands the old man
all our wills bound up in his hands
hardly see him but we feel him even down here
and a thread though our heads has us all ears

no one never ever says old man to the old man
no one never, never ever says old man to the old man
to the old man, the old man

he makes just the slightest kind of motion
then there's a turn on the wheel by the coxswain
and a blast on the pipe by the boson
as the bow of the boat plows the ocean

no one never ever says old man to the old man
no one never, never ever says old man to the old man
to the old man, the old man

"mr. handley, would you defend a man you knew was guilty"?
"mr. watt, I'm not going to answer that but I will say this:
maybe it's more a question of how much guilty and how much innocent"

yo ho, oh yo, yo ee oh
oh yo, yo oh ho

an eye at the top of the pyramid
focused on the place where it's all hid
the undertow flow of the current
rushing all through me as I learn it

no one never ever says old man to the old man
no one never, never ever says old man to the old man
to the old man, the old man

for everything revealed, something's concealed
and for everything concealed, something's revealed

yo ho, oh yo, yo ee oh
oh yo, yo oh ho
yo ho, oh yo, yo ee oh
oh yo, yo oh ho