A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers chords by Van Der Graaf Generator

Chords with lyrics

Parts I - II from www.hammill.ru Edited by me.
Parts III - VI Transcribed by Cory ([email protected]) July 2010
I just wrote out the sax line for The Clot Thickens,
play some power chords if you want, or feel free to complete it for me.

(Eyewitness)

DmDm
Still wait ing for my sav-iour, storms tear me limb from limb
C majorC                              DmDm
my fingers feel like seaweed. I'm so far out I'm too far in.
DmDm
I am a lonely man, my solitude is true,
C majorC                            DmDm
my eyes have borne stark witness and now my nights are numbered, too.

C majorC            A minorAm  B minorBm
I've seen the smiles on dead hands,
E minorEm              C majorC    A minorAm
the stars shine, but they're not for me.

DmDm
I prophesy disaster and then I count the cost...
C majorC                       DmDm
I shine but, shining, dying, I know that I am almost lost.
DmDm
On the table lies blank paper and my tower is built on stone;
C majorC                       DmDm
I only have blunt scissors, I only have the bluntest home.

C majorC               A minorAm   B minorBm
I've been the witness and the seal of death
E minorEm               C majorC   A minorAm
lingers in the molten wax that is my head.

DmDm
When you see the skeletons
Bb majorBb
of sailing-ship spars sinking low
AbAb
You'll begin to wonder if the points of all the ancients myths
G+G               DmDm
are solemnly directed straight at you...

DmDm
No time now for contrition, the time for that's long past,
C majorC                           DmDm
the walls are thin as tissue and if I talk I'll crack the glass.

C majorC             A minorAm     B minorBm
So I only think on how it might have been,
E minorEm               C majorC   A minorAm
locked in silent monologue, in silent scream.

DmDm
I am much too tired to speak
Bb majorBb
and as the waves crash on the bleak
AbAb
stones of the tower I start to freak
G+G          DmDm
and find that I am overcome....

(S.H.M.)

G+G
"Unreal, unreal" ghost helmsmen scream and fall in through the sky,
G+G
not breaking through my seagull shrieks - no breaks until I die.

A minorAm
The spectres scratch on window-slits,
B minorBm
the hollowed faces and mindless grins
C majorC         Am/B          A minorAm  AbAb G+G F#F#
are only intent on destroying what they've lost.

G+G
I crawl the wall till steepness ends in the vertical fall;
G+G
my pain has sailed into the sea -no joking hopes at dawn.

A minorAm
White bone shine in the iron-jaw mask,
B minorBm
lost mastheads pierce the freezing dark
C majorC        Am/B   A minorAm
and parallel my isolated tower...
  G+G    FF    E minorEm
no paraffin for the flame,
  DmDm   C majorC    B minorBm   A minorAm
no harbour left to gain.


(Presence of the night / Kosmos tours)
 A minorAm           Fmaj7Fmaj7 (or Am/F or Am6Am6 call it what you want)
---------------------------------------|
---1----------------------1------------|
---2----------------------2------------|
---2----------------------2------------|
-0-----------------2----------------0--|
---------------------3----1-----0h1----|

A minorAm         [BB   G+G] Fmaj7Fmaj7  [E MajorE FF A augmentedA]
'Alone, alone' the ghosts all call,
A minorAm        [BB  G+G] Fmaj7Fmaj7 [E MajorE FF A augmentedA]
pinpoint me in the light.
A minorAm     [BB  G+G] Fmaj7Fmaj7  [E MajorE FF A augmentedA]
The only life I feel at all
A minorAm          [BB G+G] Fmaj7Fmaj7 [E MajorE FF A augmentedA]
is the presence of the night.

A minorAm  [BB G+G] Fmaj7Fmaj7 [E MajorE FF A augmentedA]  repeated
[E MajorE FF G+G] A minorAm
[E MajorE FF G+G] A minorAm

n.C.
Would you cry if I died?

 G+G  E minorEm DmDm E minorEm DmDm   A minorAm A minorAm E minorEm  A minorAm E minorEm
-------6-5----6-5---| ------8---7-----8--7--|
-------8-6----8-6---| ------10--8-----10-8--|
-------7-7----7-7---| ------9---9-----9--9--|
--5-----------------| ----------------------|
--------------------| --0-------------------|
--------------------| ----------------------|
G+G   E minorEm DmDm    E minorEm  DmDm
Would you catch the final words of mine?
G+G   E minorEm DmDm  E minorEm DmDm
Would you catch my words?

A minorAm Am E minorEm      A minorAm E minorEm
I know that there's no time,
A minorAm Am E minorEm      A minorAm E minorEm
I know that there's no rhyme,
false signs find me.

(You don't have to play it this way, I just thought it would be fun.)
 A minorAm    Em/B   Am/C   Em/DEm/D    Am/E   Em/F
----8---------7---------8--------7----------8--------7------|
------10--------8---------10-------8----------10-------8----|
------------------9------------------9-------------------9--|
-------------------------------0----------------------------|
--0---------------------------------------7--------8--------|
------------7---------8-------------------------------------|

 A minorAm      E minorEm      A minorAm
--8-----8-------7-----7------5--|
----10----10------8-----8----5--|
-------9-----8------9-----9--5--|
-----------------------------7--|
--0-----0--------------------0--|
----------------0-----0---------|

A minorAm   E minorEm     A minorAm    E minorEm
I don't want to hate, I just want to grow;
A minorAm    E minorEm    A minorAm
why can't I let me live and be free?
     E minorEm       A minorAm
...but I die very slowly alone.

A minorAm   E minorEm     A minorAm   E minorEm
I know no more ways, I am so afraid,
A minorAm   E minorEm      A minorAm
myself won't let me just be myself
E minorEm            A minorAm
and so I am completely alone.

A minorAm
The maelstrom of my memory
B minorBm
is a vampire and it feeds on me;
C majorC          C/BC/B        A minorAm
now, staggering madly, over the brink I fall.


((Custard's) Last stand)

C#C# F#F# FF

C#C#     F#F#       FF  Bb majorBb C majorC Bb majorBb
Lighthouses might house the key
C#C#    F#F#    FF    C majorC C#C# Eb MajorEb
but can I reach the door?

Bb majorBb         BbdimBbdim      A augmentedA       DdimDdim C7C7
-----------------------------------------------------------|
----------6----------------5----------------5--------6--5--|
--------7---7------------6---6------------6---6------4--3--|
------8-------8--------5-------5--------7-------7----6--5--|
----8-----------8----7-----------7----7-----------7--5--3--|
--6----------------6----------------5----------------------|

C#C#    F#F#     FF  Bb majorBb C majorC Bb majorBb
I want to walk on the sea
C#C#     F#F#      FF     C majorC C#C# Eb MajorEb
so that I may better find a shore;
Bb majorBb     BbdimBbdim  A augmentedA      FF
but how can I ever keep my feet dry?
E7E7 A augmentedA  A augmentedA  A augmentedA G+G FF
I scan the horizon,
E7E7 A augmentedA  A augmentedA  A augmentedA G+G  FF DmDm Am/C   B minorBm
I must keep my eyes on all parts of me.

C#C#   F#F#     FF   Bb majorBb C majorC Bb majorBb
Looking back on the years
C#C#         F#F#  FF     C majorC C#C# Eb MajorEb
it seems that I have lost my way:
Bb majorBb        BbdimBbdim         A augmentedA
Like a dog in the night I have run to a manger,
       FF     E MajorE
now I am the stranger I stay in.
C#C# Eb MajorEb E MajorE
   Ah, well.

C#C#     F#F#   FF      Bb majorBb C majorC Bb majorBb
All of the grief I have seen
C#C#       F#F#     FF    C majorC C#C# Eb MajorEb
leaves me chasing solitary peace;
Bb majorBb     BbdimBbdim   A augmentedA   FF
But I hold experience in my head.
E7E7 A augmentedA  A augmentedA   A augmentedA G+G  FF
I'm too close to the light,.
E7E7 A augmentedA   A augmentedA   A augmentedA G+G  FF
I don't think I see right,
DmDm  Am/C  B minorBm
for I blind me.


(The clot thickens)
C majorC           BB   C majorC G+G
Where is the God that guides my hand?
C majorC          BB C majorC  FF
How can the hands of others reach me?
C majorC           BB C majorC   G+G
When will I find what I grope for?
C majorC    BB  C majorC  FF
Who is going to teach me?
C majorC     Bb majorBb     C majorC    Bb majorBb
I am me / me are we / we can't see
C majorC  Bb majorBb BB
any way out of here.
C majorC       Bb majorBb     C majorC
Crashing sea, a trophied history:
Bb majorBb   C majorC  BB
chance has lost my Guinevere...
A augmentedA A majorA A augmentedA BB A augmentedA AbAb BB A augmentedA AbAb BB A augmentedA Eb MajorEb

C majorC C BB C majorC G+G - C majorC C BB C majorC FF - C majorC C BB C majorC G+G - C majorC C BB C majorC FF
C majorC Bb majorBb C majorC Bb majorBb C majorC Bb majorBb BB
C majorC Bb majorBb C majorC Bb majorBb C majorC Bb majorBb BB
A augmentedA A majorA A augmentedA BB A augmentedA AbAb BB A augmentedA AbAb BB A augmentedA Eb MajorEb

I don't want to be one wave in the water
but sea will drag me deep:
one more haggard drowned man.

I can see the lemmings coming, but I know I'm just a man.
Do I join or do I founder? Which can is the best I may?


(Land's end (Sineline) / We go now)

Eb MajorEb Bb majorBb F#F# Absus

Eb MajorEb       Bb majorBb       F#F#       AbAb
Oceans drifting sideways, I am pulled into the spell,
[AbAb Bb majorBb] Bb majorBb    [Bb majorBb C majorC] C majorC  Ab7/C Bb7Bb7 Eb MajorEb
I    feel you around me, I know you well.
      Bb majorBb         F#F#        AbAb
Stars slice horizons where the lines stand much too stark;
[AbAb Bb majorBb] Bb majorBb    [Bb majorBb C majorC] C majorC Ab7/C     Bb7Bb7  Eb MajorEb
I    feel I am drowning - hands stretch in the dark.
Bb majorBb  F#F#  AbAb [AbAb Bb majorBb] Bb majorBb    [Bb majorBb C majorC] C majorC

C majorC Bb7/D C7C7 FF

FF         C majorC         Eb MajorEb     Bb majorBb
Camps of panoply and majesty, what is Freedom of Choice?
[Bb majorBb C majorC] C majorC          [C majorC D MajorD] D MajorD  Bb7/D C7C7  FF
  Where do I stand in the pageantry, whose is my voice?
            C majorC     Eb MajorEb          Bb majorBb
It doesn't feel so very bad now, I think the end is the start,
[Bb majorBb C majorC] C majorC       [C majorC D MajorD] D MajorD  Bb7/D   C7C7  FF
  begin to feel very glad now: All things are a part
Bb7/D   C7C7  FF
All things are apart
Bb7/D   C7C7  FF