Gordon Bok – Last Shift At The Crowns (Guitar)

Capo 2
Key
-

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Chords

[Intro] G C G [Verse]
G
When the Crowns closed

         C            D               Em                  Bm
When the last shift returned from the shaft beneath the sea

   Am                    D             G
We heard them first, for every man was singing

   C                               G
As each in turn rose to the sunset glow

   D                                Em    C
On harmonies born from the gates of Hell

     Em               D               Em      D     C     D7  C  D7  C  G
That even drowned the breakers on the granite far below
[Verse]
G                     C
I asked the last man

          D                 Em                   Bm   Am
What he remembered from his years beneath the ground

                   D                  G
He said, at end of shift when all was quiet

    C                                      G
The drill was stopped, the pumps were far away

  D                                    Em       C
Before going to the shaft with all its singing

   Em               D             Em      D        C      D7  C  D7  C  G
In silence he would listen and in silence he would pray
[Verse]
G
What did you hear?

 C             D     Em                Bm
"Seas breaking over, close above the mine"

     Am              D               G
He'd catch the water from the tunnel roof

     C                                  G
He'd taste for salt, then silently he'd pray

    D                                      Em       C
For all who worked 'neath ocean and 'neath granite

   Em                D                 Em        D       C      D7  C  D7  C  G
He said the sound of waves above would haunt him all his days
[Verse]
G
And what of today?

        C      D          Em                Bm
Crown's engine-house is a silent, empty shell

    Am                D               G
The shaft is gone and all who sang so fine

        C                                   G
I never felt the granite tremble 'neath the swell

      D                                      Em        C
But I heard the last shift rising toward the sunlight

          Em              D       Em         D        C      D7  C  D7  C  G
And I can still remember, singing out of the Gates of Hell