Gladstone Pier chords by Redgum

C       G
He was a sailor
D              Em
Swarthy lean and proud
       C                 G
He could take a schooner through a big sea swell
Am                D
Aloof in the mainland crowd

C               G
She loved his quiet laughter
      D               Em
Like a boy he'd shrug and grin
C                  G
Beach stretched wide at Port Mackay
    Am                 D
With dreams upon the wind

C          G       D      Em
He wore her name in a rose tattoo
    C           G       Am
Long weekends of gins and lime

C         G          D     Em
She lived in Cairns made plans to move
C        G       Am
Checkout girl part-time
C          G          D    Em
And rumour said there's a boom ahead
       C    G     Am
You can make your future here
              Em
By the Gladstone pier

C                  G
A two roomed five row shelter
      D                 Em
Empty hopes, the damp, the flies
C             G
Prices hiked her face grew tight
    Am          D
And conversation died

        C          G               D        Em
And the foreman at the smelter said you're much too old
      C         G       Am
Try the cane fields furthers north
       C     G           D       Em
And the clerk at the market said we don't buy trouble
       C     G      Am
There's a strike down at the port

      C      G       D      Em
Then a six-day shift in a filthy pit
   C    G       Am
The drag lines gouging coal
    C        G           D        Em
The black dust gnaws at your lungs and pores
     C    G      Am
And anger rots your soul
        C            G           D        Em
And the queue round the block waits for you to drop
       C    G      Am
Can you take it for another year
              Em
By the Gladstone Pier

     C             G
Every Sunday he'd walk alone
       D                 Em
Casting pebbles at the passing waves
C            G
Plunge in brine cleanse his pride
  Am       D
A stronger man remains

C                    G
The crunch of shale and distant sails
D             Em
Ached within his bones
    C            G
And ships upon the tide
Am              D
Bound for ports unknown

C               G
Soon he drank for comfort
        D              Em
She grew bitter in the weeks between
    C              G
The nights of beer and hollow cheer
    Am          D
And love became routine

 C                   G
They fought, she left him crying
     D           Em
Angry words in a last café
   C             G
In desperation on a lonely night
          Am           D
She took the bus to Cairns next day

    C        G       D       Em
And Gladstone couples break that way
      C           G      Am
Mutual blame and no regrets
    C        G       D       Em
And boomtown blues just fade to grey
     C       G       Am
And all that's left are debts she cried:
 C        G       D      Em
"I've got to leave this dirty old town
    C       G    Am
The rattle of broken men
    C          G       D       Em
And break these chains and wash the pain
    C    G     Am
And put to sea again
C           G         D          Em
Drained all my passion my anger and my fears
     C           G     Am
And sank them in a flagon
              Em
Under Gladstone pier"

C                             G
She saw him through the Greyhound window
      D                E
As the dawn glowed on the chrome
C                      G
Standing by the pier under sullen skies
Am           D
Sea winds calling home

C               G
From surfers up to Townsville
        D           Em
Past the high-rise colonies
C                G
Fast food, cheap hotels
        Am                 D
Two more boom-town refugees