White Squall

INTRO: C

VERSE:
          C                                    Am      G       F
Well it's just my luck to have the watch, with nothing left to do
       C                F                  Am                 G
But to watch the deadly waters glide as we roll north to the 'Soo',
C                                  Am       Em     F
Wonder when they'll turn again and pitch us to the rail
    C                  G                F
Whirl off one more youngster in the gale.

    C                               Am     G       F
The kid was so damned eager. It was all so big and new.
C            F                  Am               G
Never had to tell him twice, or find him work to do.
    C                                Am     Em       F
And evenings on the mess deck he was always first to sing,
        C               G                C
Show us pictures of the girl he'd wed in spring.


CHORUS
      G                                    F                  C
But I told that kid a hundred times "Don't take the Lakes for granted.
     F                 C                Am               G
They go from calm to a hundred knots so fast they seem enchanted."
      C                Dsus2             Em             F
But tonight a red-eyed Wiarton girl lies staring at the wall,
        Am             G          F
And her lover's gone into a white squall.


       C                                  Am     G      F
It's a thing that us oldtimers know. In a sultry summer calm
      C                 F               Am              G
There comes a blow from nowhere, and it goes off like a bomb.
      C                              Am       Em     F
And a fifteen thousand tonner can be thrown upon her beam
          C                G              F
While the gale takes all before it with a scream.

    C                             Am      G      F
The kid was on the hatches, lying staring at the sky.
     C               F                 Am                  G
From where I stood I swear I could see tears fall from his eyes.
     C                                    Am        Em   F
So I hadn't the heart to tell him that he should be on a line,
C         G                 C
Even on a night so warm and fine.


D PEAT CHORUS

            C                              Am   G      F
And I could feel her keeling over with the fury of the blow.
      C                   F              Am           G
And I watched the rail go under then, so terrible and slow.
           C                                    Am       Em      F
Then, like some great dog she shook herself and roared upright again.
    C           G                 C
Far overside, I heard him call my name.