when the wind s from the eastern quarter and there s a pungent taste of salt upon the breeze something troubles your insides like a scum upon the tides or something washed up on the beach down by the quays intuition s what a girl in love relies on i should ve known he only wanted to be free i drew my line upon the sand only a fool would ever stand between a man and his involvement with the sea and when the tide rolls out you ll find your bed is empty and he s gone so if you ever see me talking to a sailor some scurvy no good mongrel of a tar you knock the drink out of my hand push me over where i stand take a slug at me but somewhere i won t scar pin my body to the ground and slap my face to bring me round then you can roll my silly ass out of this bar for a sailor s not a man to be trusted he ll bill and coo call you his chickadee oh but when he s had his way all you ll get is his good day then he ll blow a kiss and scuttle back to sea and when the tide rolls out you ll find your bed is empty and he s gone so if you ever see me talking to a sailor and i blithely stand there passing time of day no don t you hesitate to think someone s tampered with your drink and he s shaking out your handbag in the time it takes to blink and all the booze you ve ever bought him he s just thrown up in the sink just call the funny farm and carry me away for a sailor s not a man to be trusted he s treacherous as tides and hidden reefs and just to get you up the stairs he ll quote the bible in his prayers and before you know he s bound for tenerife and when the tide rolls out you ll find your house is empty and he s gone and when the tide rolls out you ll find your heart is empty and he s gone and when you become a woman of a certain age you ll find it s difficult to trust a man difficult to gauge when that bilge rat who left you without a living wage thinks there s still that tawdry glamour of the sea that i swear to god s completely lost on me so if you ever see me talking to a sailor some mangy sea dog skulking on the quay ah just remind me what i ve said or you can shoot me in the head and then throw my bleeding body in the sea you ll find your bed is empty and he s gone 