The Old Figurehead Carver chords by Gordon Bok

Tuning: Standard (E A D G B E)

Difficulty: Novice

Intro:
E    A

Verse:
A
I have done my bit of carving
      Bm
Figureheads of quaint design
                       E
For the Olives and the Ruddocks
        D                 A
And the famous Black Ball Line
                G           A
Brigantines and barques and clippers
          D                    Bm
Brigs and schooners, lithe and tall
                       E
But the bounding Marco Polo
        D                A
Was the proudest of them all

Chorus:
             G       A
And while my hand is steady
D                 Bm
While my eyes are good
                 E
I will carve the music
       D             A       E
Of the wind into the wood

Verse:
      A
I can see that white-winged clipper
        Bm
Reeling under scudding clouds
                     E
Tramping down a hazy skyline
       D              A
With a Norther in her shrouds
      G                 A
I can feel her lines of beauty
        D                      Bm
See her flecked with spume and brine
                           E
As she drives her scuppers under
         D             A
And that figurehead of mine

Chorus:
             G       A
And while my hand is steady
D                 Bm
While my eyes are good
                 E
I will carve the music
       D             A       E
Of the wind into the wood

Verse:
         A
'Twas of seasoned pine I made it
           Bm
Clear from outer bark to core
                        E
And the finest piece of timber
         D                     A
From the mast-pond on Straight Shore
      G              A
Every bite of axe or chisel
      D              Bm
Every ringing mallet welt
                               E
Brought from out that piece of timber
        D             A
All the spirit that I felt

Chorus:
             G       A
And while my hand is steady
D                 Bm
While my eyes are good
                 E
I will carve the music
       D             A       E
Of the wind into the wood

Verse:
      A
I had read of Marco Polo
         Bm
Till his daring deeds were mine
                     E
And I saw them all a-glowing
        D              A
In that balsam-scented pine
              G          A
Saw his eyes alight with purpose
       D             Bm
Facing every vagrant breeze
                          E
Saw him lifting, free and careless
     D             A
Over all the Seven Seas

Chorus:
             G       A
And while my hand is steady
D                 Bm
While my eyes are good
                 E
I will carve the music
       D             A       E
Of the wind into the wood

Verse:
         A
That was how I did my carving
        Bm
Beat of heart and stroke of hand
                      E
Blended into life and action
        D              A
All the purpose that I planned
                  G           A
Flowing robes and wind-tossed tresses
         D                   Bm
Forms of beauty, strength, design
                            E
Saw them all, and strove to carve them
         D              A
In those figureheads of mine

Chorus:
             G       A
And while my hand is steady
D                 Bm
While my eyes are good
                 E
I will carve the music
       D             A       E  D  A
Of the wind into the wood

Verse:
A
I am old, my hands are feeble
       Bm
And my outward eyes are dim
                      E
But I see again those clippers
        D                A
Lifting o'er the ocean's rim
                     G       A
Great white fleet of reeling rovers
      D                Bm
Wind above, the surf beneath
                   E
And the Marco Polo leading
        D              A
With my carving in her teeth

Chorus:
             G       A
And while my hand is steady
D                 Bm
While my eyes are good
                 E
I will carve the music
       D             A
Of the wind into the wood

Chorus:
             G       A
And while my hand is steady
D                 Bm
While my eyes are good
                 E
I will carve the music
       D             A       E  A
Of the wind into the wood