Gordon Bok – The Old Figurehead Carver (Guitar)

A
I have done my bit of carving

      Bm
Figureheads of quaint design

                       E
For the Olives and the Ruddocks

        D                 A
And the famous Black Ball Line

                G           A
Brigantines and barques and clippers

          D                    Bm
Brigs and schooners, lithe and tall

                       E
But the bounding Marco Polo

        D                A
Was the proudest of them all

             G       A
And while my hand is steady

D                 Bm
While my eyes are good

                 E
I will carve the music

       D             A       E
Of the wind into the wood

      A
I can see that white-winged clipper

        Bm
Reeling under scudding clouds

                     E
Tramping down a hazy skyline

       D              A
With a Norther in her shrouds

      G                 A
I can feel her lines of beauty

        D                      Bm
See her flecked with spume and brine

                           E
As she drives her scuppers under

         D             A
And that figurehead of mine

             G       A
And while my hand is steady

D                 Bm
While my eyes are good

                 E
I will carve the music

       D             A       E
Of the wind into the wood

         A
'Twas of seasoned pine I made it

           Bm
Clear from outer bark to core

                        E
And the finest piece of timber

         D                     A
From the mast-pond on Straight Shore

      G              A
Every bite of axe or chisel

      D              Bm
Every ringing mallet welt

                               E
Brought from out that piece of timber

        D             A
All the spirit that I felt

             G       A
And while my hand is steady

D                 Bm
While my eyes are good

                 E
I will carve the music

       D             A       E
Of the wind into the wood

      A
I had read of Marco Polo

         Bm
Till his daring deeds were mine

                     E
And I saw them all a-glowing

        D              A
In that balsam-scented pine

              G          A
Saw his eyes alight with purpose

       D             Bm
Facing every vagrant breeze

                          E
Saw him lifting, free and careless

     D             A
Over all the Seven Seas

             G       A
And while my hand is steady

D                 Bm
While my eyes are good

                 E
I will carve the music

       D             A       E
Of the wind into the wood

         A
That was how I did my carving

        Bm
Beat of heart and stroke of hand

                      E
Blended into life and action

        D              A
All the purpose that I planned

                  G           A
Flowing robes and wind-tossed tresses

         D                   Bm
Forms of beauty, strength, design

                            E
Saw them all, and strove to carve them

         D              A
In those figureheads of mine

             G       A
And while my hand is steady

D                 Bm
While my eyes are good

                 E
I will carve the music

       D             A       E  D  A
Of the wind into the wood

A
I am old, my hands are feeble

       Bm
And my outward eyes are dim

                      E
But I see again those clippers

        D                A
Lifting o'er the ocean's rim

                     G       A
Great white fleet of reeling rovers

      D                Bm
Wind above, the surf beneath

                   E
And the Marco Polo leading

        D              A
With my carving in her teeth

             G       A
And while my hand is steady

D                 Bm
While my eyes are good

                 E
I will carve the music

       D             A
Of the wind into the wood

             G       A
And while my hand is steady

D                 Bm
While my eyes are good

                 E
I will carve the music

       D             A       E  A
Of the wind into the wood