Stan Rogers – Make And Break Harbour (Guitar)

      C             Am         F                G
How still lies the bay in the light western airs

        Dm            F        G
Which blow from the crimson horizon

      C                         F        G
Once more we tack home with a dry empty hold

        Dm            F         G
Saving gas with the breezes so fair

         C          Am        F               G
She's a kindly Cape Islander, old, but still sound

        Dm          F            G
But so lost in the longliner's shadow

           C                          F
Make and break, and make do, but the fish are so few

         G            F                C
That she won't be replaced should she founder

         C            Am        F            G
It's so hard to not think of before the big war

          Dm           F            G
When the cod were so cheap and so plenty

          C                      F          G
Foreign trawlers go by now with long-seeing eyes

       Dm             F          G
Taking all, where we seldom take any

         C                 Am           F           G
And the young folk don't stay with the fisherman's way

       Dm           F            G
Long ago, they all moved to the cities

        C                       F
And the ones left behind, old, tired, and blind

       G           F          C
Can't work for "a pound or a penny".

    F              G           C
In Make and Break Harbour the boats are so few

     Am       G             F      G
Too many are pulled up and rotten

      C           Am          C               F
Most houses stand empty, old nets hung to dry

      G          F           C
Are blown away, lost and forgotten.

           C            Am            F             G
Now I can see the big draggers have stirred up the bay

         Dm             F             G
Leaving lobster traps smashed on the bottom

           C                       F            G
Can they think it don't pay to respect the old ways

      Dm             F               G
That Make and Break men have not forgotton?

         C             Am          F              G
For we still keep our time to the turn of the tide

          Dm          F              G
And this boat that I built with my father

       C                         F
Still lifts to the sky! The one lunger and I

       G              F             C
Still talk like old friends on the water.

    F              G           C
In Make and Break Harbour the boats are so few

     Am       G             F      G
Too many are pulled up and rotten

      C           Am          C               F
Most houses stand empty, old nets hung to dry

     G           F           C
Are blown away, lost and forgotten.

    F              G           C
In Make and Break Harbour the boats are so few

     Am       G             F      G
Too many are pulled up and rotten

      C           Am          C               F
Most houses stand empty, old nets hung to dry

     G           F           C
Are blown away, lost and forgotten.