Gordon Bok – Wiscasset Schooners (Guitar)

                       G#m           E            F#
Do you remember riding home before a dying summer breeze

     E                F#              B             F#
Your tops'ls gleaming golden, setting sun among the trees

        B               G#m                E              F#
And the osprey wheeling slowly through the shadows by the shore

          E                  F#                 B               F#
Where the towering cliffs of granite plunge ten fathoms deep or more

        E                F#          B
And the eddies swirl and flow down below

                        G#m             E              F#
You were solid-built of Douglas fir and oak and yellow pine

    E             F#                    B             F#
Two hundred feet, sailed by a crew that numbered only nine

        B                   G#m              E                F#
Hauling lumber through your timberports, and dyewood from the south

E                 F#               B                F#
Running home from Norfolk, bearing coal to heat the north

        E               F#          B
And whatever they could stow down below

               F#  B       E        C#m             F#
But the winter is upon you now, and time is passing slow

        C#m           F#          B
And the tides ebb and flow down below

                         G#m                 E            F#
You served them well for fifteen years, your canvas all unfurled

         E               F#                  B                F#
When New England sailing ships were found in ports around the world

    B                 G#m                    E                  F#
But spars gave way to smokestacks, clouds of white to black and grey

          E                F#             B                F#
There was nothing left for you to do, but waste your time away

        E                 F#           B
And the rot was spreading slow, down below

               F#  B       E        C#m             F#
But the winter is upon you now, and time is passing slow

        C#m           F#          B
And the tides ebb and flow down below

                      G#m              E                F#
From Wiscasset to the China Lakes, the Narrow Gauge did run

       E                 F#            B                  F#
And to push it northward to Quebec was old Frank Winter's plan

        B                 G#m               E              F#
And the schooners were to bring his cargoes in to meet the train

        E              F#              B                   F#
When he found you idle by the dock, he brought you down to Maine

          E             F#          B
Where the tides ebb and flow down below

                              G#m                E                F#
You know he tried the best he could, but he just couldn't make it pay

      E             F#                  B                 F#
So he ran you both aground, and turned around and walked away

            B                G#m              E              F#
You've been waiting here for fifty years, but no one set you free

           E               F#           B           F#
Now you're broken down and dying, lying open to the sea

        E             F#          B
And the tides ebb and flow down below

               F#  B       E        C#m             F#
And the winter is upon you now, and time is passing slow

        C#m           F#          B
And the tides ebb and flow down below

                       G#m               E               F#
Now the people come to stare at you with wonder in their eyes

    E                        F#              B                F#
For times have changed since men knew how to work a ship your size

        B                   G#m               E                   F#
And the seas you sailed are running black, in time we'll know our loss

     E                F#             B                F#
It's too late now for you, but is it too late now for us?

        E              F#              B
Can you teach what you know before you go?

               F#  B       E        C#m             F#
For the winter is upon you now, and time is passing slow

        C#m           F#          B
And the tides ebb and flow down below

               F#  B       E        C#m             F#
For the winter is upon you now, and time is passing slow

        C#m           F#          B
And the tides ebb and flow down below