The Weary Whaling Ground chords by Traditional

Chords with lyrics

The Weary Whaling Grounds from albumn - Sea Shanties: Rousing Songs From the Age of Sails

Basic Picking Pattern for entire song:

  A minorAm   C majorC    D MajorD    A minorAm     C majorC     D MajorD
e|-----------------------------------------------------------|
BB|-----------------3---------------------------3----3--------|
G+G|---2------0-----2-2-----2----2-------0------2-2--2-2-------|
D MajorD|--2-2----2-2---0-------2-2--2-2-----2-2----0----0----------|
A augmentedA|-0------3-------------0----0-------3-----------------------|
E MajorE|-----------------------------------------------------------|


VERSE 1:
N.C  A minorAm    C majorC      D MajorD    A minorAm            C majorC    D MajorD
Oh if I had the wings of a gull, me boys. I would spread them and fly home.
  A minorAm    C majorC      D MajorD  A minorAm             C majorC     D MajorD
I'd leave old Greenland's icy grounds for of right whales there are none.

VERSE 2:
    A minorAm     C majorC       D MajorD       A minorAm          C majorC   D MajorD
And the weather is rough and the winds they do blow, there's little comfort here.
    A minorAm    C majorC     D MajorD    A minorAm       C majorC     D MajorD
And I'd sooner be snug in a Bedtford pub, A-drinkin' of strong beer.


VERSE 3:
 A minorAm     C majorC       D MajorD       A minorAm          C majorC   D MajorD
Oh, a man must be mad or want money bad to venture hunting the whale.
    A minorAm    C majorC        D MajorD       A minorAm           C majorC      D MajorD
For he may be drowned when the big fish turns around or our head be smashed by the tail.


VERSE 4:
      A minorAm     C majorC       D MajorD       A minorAm          C majorC       D MajorD
Though the work seems grand to the young green hand, as he makes up his mind when he goes.
   A minorAm    C majorC       D MajorD     A minorAm            C majorC     D MajorD
In a very short burst he'd as soon hear a curse than the cry of: “There she blows!”


VERSE 5:
   A minorAm    C majorC      D MajorD        A minorAm    C majorC   D MajorD
“All hands on deck now, for God's sake, move briskly if you can.”
    A minorAm     C majorC     D MajorD    A minorAm           C majorC     D MajorD
And he stumbles on deck, so dizzy and sick; For his life he don't give a damn.


VERSE 6:
  A minorAm         D MajorD      A minorAm                C majorC   D MajorD
And high overhead the great flukes spread, and the mate gives the whale the iron.
   A minorAm   C majorC      D MajorD   A minorAm            C majorC     D MajorD
And soon the blood in a purple flood from the spout-hole comes a-flying!

VERSE 7:
      A minorAm   C majorC     D MajorD     A minorAm              C majorC    D MajorD
All these trials we bear for nigh four years till the flying jib points for home.
    A minorAm        C majorC      D MajorD     A minorAm         C majorC     D MajorD
We're supposed for our toil to get a bonus on the oil and an equal share on the bone.


VERSE 8:
    A minorAm     C majorC    D MajorD       A minorAm            C majorC   D MajorD
But we go to the agent to settle for the trip, And we find we've cause to repent.
      A minorAm  C majorC     D MajorD      A minorAm           C majorC     D-
For we've slaved away four years of our life and earned about three pound ten.



The song is repetative so I sugguest breaking into stiffled chords at times of different intensity.
On the A minorAm you can pull off/hammer on the Asus2Asus2 and on the D MajorD can utilise similarly the Dsus4Dsus4 and Dsus2Dsus2

  A minorAm variation  D MajorD variation
e|------------------2h3p2p0h2----------|
BB|----1p0h1---------3-3-3-3-3----------|
G+G|----2-2-2---------2-2-2-2-2----------|
D MajorD|----2-2-2---------0-0-0-0-0----------|
A augmentedA|----0-0-0----------------------------|
E MajorE|-------------------------------------|

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p - Pull-off
h - Hammer-on