1. |
The Third Man
05:40
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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
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2. |
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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!
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3. |
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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
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4. |
The Means To The End
05:56
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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.
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5. |
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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
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6. |
Water Sky
03:52
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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
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7. |
Sixty Below
04:28
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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)
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8. |
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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
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9. |
The Lost Men
05:11
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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
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Bond Street Bridge Auckland, New Zealand
Psychedelic electroacoustic folk from Auckland, New Zealand.
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