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The Explorers Club: Antarctica

by Bond Street Bridge

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1.
You call him Icarus I call him quality control to find how high we can go fall into the shiny sea to find exactly what ‘too high’ means Shackleton and two good men out in the wasteland on the ice they felt a fourth man there besides keeping pace just out of sight all along that Subantarctic night who is that who walks beside you? Was it frostbite, where you snowblind? Who was in that plane to guide you? Call them saints or the ghosts of pilots until I have walked or flown where you have gone, I’ll never know You can call them what you like and I will keep my counsel you can put your feet up on the table I’ll get in the drinks Ten days off the coast of Maine Running hard before a swell I spied a tall man at the helm Kept us heading true for home then left me as he found me, all alone And you will know how high we can go They’ve come to show how high we can go
2.
Great God! This is an awful place North winds howl from every direction our slighted union jack over a blasted waste a scene of the utmost desolation and now, now for the run home now, now for the run home Great god! This is an awful place we have laboured without reward of priority Wilson's cigarette leaves a queer taste like this letter from the king of Norway and now, now for the run home now, now for the run home oh Evans fell behind the Soldier stepped outside The ponies are lying in their shambles We knew we took a risk out in the whirling drift for God's sake look after our people Great God! This is an awful place things have come out against us My love, we have no cause for complaint but bow to the will of providence and now, now for the run home now, now for the run home Oh I know you'll keep our son out in the open air and see that he does not become idle it seems a pity now, but i cannot write any more for God's sake look after our people!
3.
I, I'm going outside I may be some time Tell my mother that I slept Intending not to wake Tell the boys I stepped outside For all our wretched sakes For Jonah came aboard with us The day we headed South The luck he brought has beggared us To feed his greedy mouth I, I'm going outside I may be some time Jonah walked abroad with us All along the march Out there on the ice with us For every frozen start His were all the blizzards All the whirling, shifting drift The frostbites and the hunger were his God-forsaken gifts
4.
Am E Each of us, all of us, we have been given the means Am E Thirty white tablets, an old-fashioned tube of morphine G E A comfortless spot, a steady decline G E Tragedy all down the line. (x2) chorus 1 F A C D F But when we fall A We will be marching C We’ll show the world D How Englishmen die F To fall so far A We must be flying C D High, high, high We have decided we’ll push on and fall on the march A natural end once our reach has exceeded our grasp We cannot hope for better things So far from the sun, we’ve frozen our wings We’ve frozen our wings (x2) F A We’ve frozen our wings Dm A Frozen our wings D Dmaj7 D7 Oh When we fall We will be marching We’ll show the world How Englishmen die To fall so far We must be flying High, high, high Dm C Dm C So far from the sun we have frozen our wings and we cannot hope now for better things we have no regrets and we still do our best till the last now our reach has exceeded our grasp we have no regrets and we still do our best to the last now our reach has exceeded our grasp.
5.
Dm the pressure comes in waves Am they run before these southern storms that blow for days and days though days have gone and polar dawn is still a way away through endless night, aboard and warm we wait and hope and pray our ship will hold her back is strong though ancient sailors say a ship held fast all winter long will have a price to pay the ice extracts a heavy toll it chooses who it claims their hubris and their lofty goals crushed beneath the weight F C frozen there and wasted Dm Am Oh, Oh Dm what the ice wants it hold in a grasp Am like the grip of a vise, implacably fast it twist and it torques and the pressures increase F C and what the ice wants, the ice keeps Dm Am Oh, Oh Dm Our little ship will hold Am Greenheart planks as strong as steel to ride a sea so cold three miles deep beneath our keel The sound of distant guns her timbers beat a funeral march she thunders like a drum the seabirds cry out in the dark F So sing the the beat of the pumps in the bilge Dm as the waters creep in and the hold starts to fill C the carpenter mutters and patches the leaks Am F C he says 'what the ice wants, the ice keeps' Dm Am Oh, Oh Dm She's going, boys! Time to get off Am She's going, boys! Get out and walk Dm She's going, boys! Harness the dogs Am F C We are all alone and helpless Dm Am Oh, Oh F She's going, boys! Time to get off Dm She's going, boys! Get out and walk C She's going, boys! Harness the dogs Am F C We are all alone and helpless Dm She's going, boys! Take what you can Am She's going, boys! Every man Dm for every man on this terrible deep Am F C Bb What the ice wants, the ice will Bb Am F C keep, Oh the ice will Bb Am F C keep, Oh the ice will Bb Am F C Dm keep, Oh the ice will keep
6.
Water Sky 03:52
Verse: F Bb Bb C Bb C Chorus: Dm Gm C F v.1 Out where the frost flowers grow here on this creaky leaky floe out where the frost flowers grow I have a photograph of you The cold has bitten nearly through I have a photograph of you ch. In the north there's a water sky the boss has promised we'll come through we'll take the boats dear and by and by I will be sailing back to you v.2 I'd pick a flower here for you but it would melt before we're through I'd pick a flower here for you This lonely letter must suffice a dismal journal of the ice this lonely letter must suffice ch bridge: F C Dm Am Bb C golden sovereigns, records and papers glass plate negatives, skins and specimens all abandoned, crushed and wasted v.3 I kept your photograph to hold I left my books I left my gold I kept your photograph to hold ch to end
7.
Sixty Below 04:28
To the health of the King Our Sweethearts and wives To the Boss and the crew of the Caird We’ll drink in white spirits A tincture of ginger Sundays through Autumn to Winter And Oh! We are lonely at sixty below All across Europe the armies collide Boys by the boatload to die To our sweethearts and wives (and may they never meet) News might travel north with the ice May news travel north with the ice Oh! We are lonely at sixty below Now we’ve told all our stories Sung all our songs Discussed every lady we’ve met Torn up the bible We’ve eaten the dogs We’d kill for a dry cigarette Kill for a cigarette Oh! We are lonely at sixty below (x2) SO lash up and stow roll up the bags boys the boss may come back today Oh! We are lonely at sixty below (x3)
8.
It's All In The Game, Play On! v Gm Bb Gm Cm Gm Bm Cm Cm Ice crystal rain, ice-blink in the sky The bitter taste of cocaine in my eyes nearly pegged out, almost done in It's more how you play than whether you win ch Cm Eb Bb Fm Cm Eb Bb It's all in the game, play on, play on! It's all in the game, play on! v A desperate start, predictable end We know where we stand, we make do and mend. It's all in the game, play on, play on! It's all in the game, play on! bridge Cm Fm Gm Knees bent black and the frostbite sores Bleed from the teeth and starve as we march along x2 Fm Bb Cm Knees bent black and the frostbite sores Bleed from the teeth and starve as we march along x2 ch, end on C
9.
The Lost Men 05:11
The Lost Men Cm We are the lost men Bb We have cut the skin of outside things Cm Bb We had the worst of it G#maj7 Bb Climb up Observation Hill and stare into the South G#maj7 Bb Wooden crosses in the wind and frost smoke on the sound G#maj7 this is how we fall Gm this is how we fall G#maj7 Gm this is how we fall in the white warfare of the South Cm We are the lost men Bb We have cut the skin of outside things Cm the naked soul of man Bb we had the worst of it We saw God in all his splendours Read the text that nature renders some of us came through we had the worst of it Suffered, starved, grovelled down yet grasped at glory, greater in the greatness of the whole we had the worst of it G#maj7 this is how we fall Gm this is how we fall G#maj7 Gm this is how we fall in the white warfare of the South Cm Bb Cm Bb We are the lost men We have cut the skin from outside things Some of us came through we had the worst of it Who of us can question any hand that fate can deal? To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield G#maj7 Gm To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield G#maj7 Gm To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield Cm Bb Cm Bb G#maj7 Bb Climb up Observation Hill and stare into the South G#maj7 Bb Wooden crosses in the wind and frost smoke on the sound G#maj7 this is how we fall Gm this is how we fall G#maj7 Gm this is how we fall in the white warfare of the South

about

Songs from the stories of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Captain Scott's British Antarctic Expedition and Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition are remembered and celebrated through original folk songs.

Songwriter Sam Prebble used the diaries and letters of the explorers themselves, as well as the poetry that inspired their work, to create original folk songs celebrating their courage and vision.

The album is based on the award-winning and critically-acclaimed show of the same name, which Bond Street Bridge continues to tour around NZ and the wider world to packed houses and rave reviews.

credits

released November 10, 2013

All songs written by Sam Prebble and performed by Bond Street Bridge:
Logan Compain - Drums
Nina McSweeney - Vocals
Sam Prebble - Guitar, Fiddle, Vocals
Dylan Storey - Guitar, Vocals
Brendan Turner - Double Bass, Vocals

Recorded at The Lab, Mt Eden, Auckland by Simon Gooding
Produced by Bond Street Bridge and Simon Gooding
Strings recorded at Huntaway Sound by Dylan Storey and Brendan Turner

Illustrations by Emily Cater

Additional Percussion by Scott Mason

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Bond Street Bridge Auckland, New Zealand

Psychedelic electroacoustic folk from Auckland, New Zealand.

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