Chords with lyrics
C majorC G+G
He was a sailor
D MajorD E minorEm
Swarthy lean and proud
C majorC G+G
He could take a schooner through a big sea swell
A minorAm D MajorD
Aloof in the mainland crowd
C majorC G+G
She loved his quiet laughter
D MajorD E minorEm
Like a boy he'd shrug and grin
C majorC G+G
Beach stretched wide at Port Mackay
A minorAm D MajorD
With dreams upon the wind
C majorC G+G D MajorD E minorEm
He wore her name in a rose tattoo
C majorC G+G A minorAm
Long weekends of gins and lime
C majorC G+G D MajorD E minorEm
She lived in Cairns made plans to move
C majorC G+G A minorAm
Checkout girl part-time
C majorC G+G D MajorD E minorEm
And rumour said there's a boom ahead
C majorC G+G A minorAm
You can make your future here
E minorEm
By the Gladstone pier
C majorC G+G
A augmentedA two roomed five row shelter
D MajorD E minorEm
Empty hopes, the damp, the flies
C majorC G+G
Prices hiked her face grew tight
A minorAm D MajorD
And conversation died
C majorC G+G D MajorD E minorEm
And the foreman at the smelter said you're much too old
C majorC G+G A minorAm
Try the cane fields furthers north
C majorC G+G D MajorD E minorEm
And the clerk at the market said we don't buy trouble
C majorC G+G A minorAm
There's a strike down at the port
C majorC G+G D MajorD E minorEm
Then a six-day shift in a filthy pit
C majorC G+G A minorAm
The drag lines gouging coal
C majorC G+G D MajorD E minorEm
The black dust gnaws at your lungs and pores
C majorC G+G A minorAm
And anger rots your soul
C majorC G+G D MajorD E minorEm
And the queue round the block waits for you to drop
C majorC G+G A minorAm
Can you take it for another year
E minorEm
By the Gladstone Pier
C majorC G+G
Every Sunday he'd walk alone
D MajorD E minorEm
Casting pebbles at the passing waves
C majorC G+G
Plunge in brine cleanse his pride
A minorAm D MajorD
A augmentedA stronger man remains
C majorC G+G
The crunch of shale and distant sails
D MajorD E minorEm
Ached within his bones
C majorC G+G
And ships upon the tide
A minorAm D MajorD
Bound for ports unknown
C majorC G+G
Soon he drank for comfort
D MajorD E minorEm
She grew bitter in the weeks between
C majorC G+G
The nights of beer and hollow cheer
A minorAm D MajorD
And love became routine
C majorC G+G
They fought, she left him crying
D MajorD E minorEm
Angry words in a last café
C majorC G+G
In desperation on a lonely night
A minorAm D MajorD
She took the bus to Cairns next day
C majorC G+G D MajorD E minorEm
And Gladstone couples break that way
C majorC G+G A minorAm
Mutual blame and no regrets
C majorC G+G D MajorD E minorEm
And boomtown blues just fade to grey
C majorC G+G A minorAm
And all that's left are debts she cried:
C majorC G+G D MajorD E minorEm
"I've got to leave this dirty old town
C majorC G+G A minorAm
The rattle of broken men
C majorC G+G D MajorD E minorEm
And break these chains and wash the pain
C majorC G+G A minorAm
And put to sea again
C majorC G+G D MajorD E minorEm
Drained all my passion my anger and my fears
C majorC G+G A minorAm
And sank them in a flagon
E minorEm
Under Gladstone pier"
C majorC G+G
She saw him through the Greyhound window
D MajorD E MajorE
As the dawn glowed on the chrome
C majorC G+G
Standing by the pier under sullen skies
A minorAm D MajorD
Sea winds calling home
C majorC G+G
From surfers up to Townsville
D MajorD E minorEm
Past the high-rise colonies
C majorC G+G
Fast food, cheap hotels
A minorAm D MajorD
Two more boom-town refugees