Parts of this FAQ have been superceded by the song history, which has been edited (and vetted) recently, though is focusedon the song and thus perhaps not as comprehensive as this page.
The FAQ  is currently in the process of being updated in the new system. We apologize for any inconvenience, and will be updating this page as soon as possible.

 

Piper, (the) piper,
(the) red red worm,
(A)woke last night to (the) sound of the storm.
(Those are) words (are) the words I sailed upon.
     -T. Marshall

The words in parentheses get dropped as the song's pace increases.

Other suggestions include:

• The third line may be "Some of the words I say leak out" (AcropolisPart@aol.com 4/21/00) or &quotThose of the words I say leak out".
• The last two lines may sometimes be "woke today to the sound of the storm / words are words, its all they heard" with Fishman singing "I'm sailing" in the background. {Paul Cassidy 2/11/98} He sings this once, likely a cue to the rest of the band to go into the ending segment of the song. (Eric Oberbroeckling 4/8/99)
• "I believe that there is another line, pronounced near the end of the lyric part of the song, and not repeated nearly as much as the other lines (perhaps not repeated at all, in fact): 'Words awoke last night'. Nobody ever mentions it, but I'm pretty sure it's in there." {David Rainie 5/4/98}
• The last line may be "words, (are) words I say to them" {Ryon Provencher} or "the words are the words i've said before" (Johnny Walker) or "her words were words i sailed upon" (biguz@yahoo.com) or "those are the words I say in the song".

BTW, the chords are accepted as G, Am, C, F, Em, C (or F); change on 1 and 3 Christian David Hoard (8/27/98)

Special thanks also to Eric "Zeusdog", Benjy Eisen, 1/8/98.

"I have a great liver. If you want to know what kind of person I am, check out my liver."
-- Bob Weaver in an early 1999 interview