Ralph McTell – Around The Wild Cape Horn (Ukulele)

Key
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Versions (3)

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Chords

Capo'd at the 2nd fret
F                       F    F       Dm     G       F
I was born a land-bound farm boy and in New England raised,

                    F                       Dm            G
The rippling of the wheat fields, well they were my ocean waves.

     F                  F        F            Dm      G         F
Each cry and call, each rise and fall, of the crows a-cross the corn

              F          G         F         F                  Dm     G
Were seagulls swooping a-cross the bow, of a ship I dreamed I'd sail a-round

     F
Cape Horn.

F                     F    F        Dm           G         F
My deck was the dusty farm yard, my mast was the telegraph pole

                              F                      Dm               G
And the windblow choir in the telephone wire was the call heard in my soul

F                F         F       Dm                 G     F
And it seemed to have been singing since the day that I was born

                 F         G       F     F           Dm         G         
I'm gonna take a trip on a sailing ship, all the way around the wild Cape 

F
Horn

F                         F  F         Dm      G       F
Well I found that ship in Hamburg, her name it was Peking

                       F                     Dm                   G
Our skipper's name was Captain Jürs, and I'd never met a man like him.

F                     F        F           Dm         G      F
He pulled two men out from the sea, by the hair, in a raging storm.

                 F         G       F     F           Dm         G
And he kept that grip on a sailing ship, all the way around the wild Cape

F
Horn.

G                                             Dm                         
Well its four hours on and its four hours off and you sleep in your wet

F
clothes

                   F                  F     Dm     G
The only dry thing on the ship is the cargo down below

F               F        F       Dm          G       F
Eleven thousand miles we sailed, nigh on one hundred dawns

F          G          F       F                Dm         G         F
Thirty two sails on a heaving ship, pulling us around the wild cape horn

F                           F        F         Dm         G        F
Well the cargo weighed five thousand tons, the ship three thousand more.

                F                  Dm                G
An acre of sail was up aloft, some seventeen storeys tall.

F                       F       F         Dm     G      F
And we had a pig, and a scruffy dog and a turkey fed on corn.

F           G         F         F                Dm         G         F
And willing hands who catch the wind, hauling us around the wild Cape Horn.

F                     F    F                 Dm     G        F
For seventeen days we were becalmed and then Friday the thirteenth

                  F                      Dm           G
Sixty eight great ships were lost in the storm of the century.

F                          F      F       Dm      G         F
But we were swept into the Atlantic, on a sun-lit sparkling morn,

F              G           F       F                 Dm         G
The turkey got sick, so we ate him quick, on the way around the wild Cape 

F
Horn.

G                                      Dm                F
Well she had us sort of hypnotised, no time to catch our breath,

                    F                    F       Dm         G
If you want to feel real alive, well you have to flirt with death.

F                 F         F         Dm        G          F
Sail close to the harnessed wind, and treat all risks with scorn

F          G      F         F                       Dm         G
A farm boy and an un-yoked team, ploughed their way around the wild Cape 

F
Horn.

F                     F        F          Dm         G    F
Now on that voyage we lost two boys, they got thrown overboard.

                F              Dm               G
Silence from us down below, no one could put in words.

F                  F        F        Dm        G        F
Two empty bunks to mark the space in our young lives to mourn,

F     G           F        F                 Dm         G         F
Voids between all life and death, on the way around the wild Cape Horn

F                        F  F       Dm      G        F
And mountain waves, like avalanches crashed upon the decks,

                            F                    Dm               G
The screaming winds snapped ropes and spars, and tried to have us wrecked.

F                             F        F          Dm         G          F
But she rose and fell through foam and swell, her sails were ripped and torn

F              G    F             F                Dm         G         F
Eight thousand tons tossed like a cork, on the way around the wild Cape Horn.

G                                     Dm                F
And she had us sort of hypnotised, no time to catch our breath,

                    F                    F       Dm         G
If you want to feel real alive, well you have to flirt with death.

F                 F         F         Dm        G          F
Sail close to the harnessed wind, and treat all risks with scorn

F          G      F         F                       Dm         G
A farm boy and an un-yoked team, ploughed their way around the wild Cape 

F
Horn.

F                G   F        F                        Dm         G
Well, a farm boy and un-yoked team, ploughed their way around the wild Cape 

F
Horn.