Gordon Bok – Trochus Boats (Guitar)

     A      D       A            E
I am living dry and placid now, among encircling mountains

   D      A        D     A       B                 E
An old man still remembering the days that used to be

      D                 A                 F#m               C#m
But I close my eyes and live again, those days of sweat and laughter

        D                  A              E             A      E
When we worked the trochus luggers in the western Coral Sea

        A    D            A             E
Sailing in a black hulled lugger with a lookout at the masthead

        D      A        D     A        B                E
You may drift along the coral cays and anchor where you please

       D              A              F#m            C#m
In the glassy leeside waters of some rocky offshore island

           D             A               E                 A
Though the outer reef be trembling under pounding whitened seas

       D             A
Laddie oh..., Laddie ay...

       E             A
Laddie oh..., Laddie ay...

       D             A
Laddie oh..., Laddie ay...

       E             A       E
Laddie oh..., Laddie ay...

        A      D        A             E
You may anchor calm and safely in the shallows over coral

          D      A       D      A     B                E
Where the waters glimmer peacock in a hundred shifting shades

        D                 A               F#m           C#m
You can hear the rippling wavelets tinkle gently on the beaches

        D                A                E         A
And the stays and braces thrumming in the southeast trades

       D             A
Laddie oh..., Laddie ay...

       E             A
Laddie oh..., Laddie ay...

       D             A
Laddie oh..., Laddie ay...

       E             A       E
Laddie oh..., Laddie ay...

       A        D      A                 E
To the north of Lizard Island and to the south of Iron Range

      D        A    D      A       B                   E
In my dreams I am returning to the place where I would be

       D               A                  F#m           C#m
To the laughing Torres Straitsmen singing softly in the twilight

       D                A            E                  A
To the trochus lugger's anchorage in Princess Charlotte Bay

       D             A
Laddie oh..., Laddie ay...

       E             A
Laddie oh..., Laddie ay...

       D             A
Laddie oh..., Laddie ay...

       E             A
Laddie oh..., Laddie ay...