[Intro]
Haul up the barrel, tune up the string
Hide all your secrets when tavern girls sing

[Verse]
She wore a grin like a dagger of glass
A silver-tongued devil with wine in her flask
She bowed to the paladin, mocked his old scars
Then stole the whole room with a song about stars

[Pre-Chorus]
She said, I have buried more kings than you know
I’ve danced with a dragon and heckled a ghost
So mind where you wager and guard what you own

[Chorus]
The bard laughs last when the brave men fall
She knows the crack in the castle wall
She’ll sing your shame, she’ll praise your name
Then vanish laughing through smoke and flame
The bard laughs last, raise another glass
The song goes first, but the truth comes fast

[Verse]
The dwarf called her trouble, the thief called her dear
The mage saw a tear that would never appear
She played for the lonely, the ruined, the proud
And buried her sorrow by singing too loud

[Pre-Chorus]
She said, If the darkness comes asking for me
Tell it I’m booked for a century
Then winked at the shadows beneath the stair

[Chorus]
The bard laughs last when the brave men fall
She knows the crack in the castle wall
She’ll sing your shame, she’ll praise your name
Then vanish laughing through smoke and flame
The bard laughs last, raise another glass
The song goes first, but the truth comes fast

[Solo]
Fiddle flies, the tables roar
Boots beat thunder on the floor

[Bridge]
But under the joke and under the tune
She knew the shape of the coming moon
She knew the door, she knew the cost
She laughed to keep from counting the lost

[Chorus]
The bard laughs last when the brave men fall
She knows the crack in the castle wall
She’ll sing your shame, she’ll praise your name
Then vanish laughing through smoke and flame
The bard laughs last, raise another glass
The song goes first, but the truth comes fast

[Outro]
Hide all your secrets when tavern girls sing
Some songs are keys to impossible things
