Bring Out Your Dead
Ye Banished Privateers Lyrics

Bring out your dead
Summon those who have died

Bring out your dead, bring out your dead, from noble house n' poor man's shed, The plague has come to town, bring out your dead, bring out your dead.
Summon those who have died above and below the social spectrum due to a widespread infectious disease

Bring out your dead, bring out your dead, to the pyres bright n' red. We've reached the end o' days, bring out your dead, bring out your dead!
Summon those who have died to be burned on pyres as a result of the apocalyptic state of the world

After seven months at sea, ‘round cape horn with ivory, We reached the british piers at the old port of tangier. I went out to celebrate, with me Cap'n n' first mate, We met with many wenches, gypsy girls n' pretty Frechies.
After a long and arduous journey, the artist and his companions arrived at a British port to celebrate with various women

A pretty lass n' her sister, had a rash with nasty blisters, But I've had me share of shy afflictions, fer lassies be me one addiction. One thing to another led, I fell asleep upon their bed, But woke next day with two dead whores n' screams outside me door.
While indulging in his love for women, the artist contracted a disease from two women he slept with, resulting in their deaths and panic outside his door

To find me drunken friends I ran, fer ye Spanish cost we sail begun. As soon as we set foot ashore, me throat felt swollen, dry n' soar. I an old physician met, fer a medical opinion get. He stared at me in stark dismay, said – Son you've got bubonic plague!
In search of his friends, the singer set foot on a Spanish coast and began exhibiting symptoms of the bubonic plague. Seeking medical help, he was diagnosed with the disease

Come next morn', the quack was dead, with pus-filled blisters on his head, but I felt stronger than before, and went out fer to the town explore. The streets with panicked men where filled, half the town in plague was killed. A flagellant procession yelled, repent or burn in hell!
The doctor who diagnosed the singer with the bubonic plague died, but the singer felt better and wandered through the town to find panic and death due to the disease, with a religious procession demanding repentance and predicting damnation

We sailed up north to native land, fer London went our merry band. As we filled the taverns with our crew, I got a feel of déjà vu'. Like in every other town we'd been, since the day we lost McGuinn, people started turning pale, behind us now a deadly trail.
As they traveled north to London, the artist and his crew noticed a pattern of people falling ill and dying after their visits, leading to a sense of repetition and guilt

Suddenly I saw all around, people dropping to the ground, Doctors clad in scary beaks, pushing barrows down the streets. Their rottening load of corpses grew, in all it was a horrid view. As a brazen bell the alleys rang, filled with dread I sang.
The artist witnessed people collapsing and dying in the streets while doctors in plague masks collected and transported their corpses, a sight that filled him with horror and dread

Bring out your dead, bring out your dead, from noble house n' poor man's shed, The plague has come to town, bring out your dead, bring out your dead.
The repeated summoning of those who have died, emphasizing the widespread and indiscriminate nature of the disease

Bring out your dead, bring out your dead, to the pyres bright n' red. We've reached the end o' days, Bring out your dead!
The repeated call to burn the dead, signifying the apocalyptic state of the world