Fire And Flame

       Am                        G
Let me sing you a song, boys, of fire and flame
     Dm                         E
Of a French ammo ship, the Mont-Blanc was her name
        Am         G          F         E
How the brave Nova Scotia was never the same
       Am           G       Am
On the morning when Halifax burned

         Am              G
'Twas in early December 1917
        Dm                             E
She was packed to the gills with Grade A T-N-T
          Am            G           F         E
They were bound for the fighting in High Germany
       Am             G          Am
When towards them the other ship turned

[Verse 2]
       Am                    G
The Norweigan ship Imo, some fault in her gears
           Dm                         E
She struck Mont-Blanc's side like the mightiest of spears
        Am       G         F               E
And the benzol ignited the captain's worst fears
       Am      G            Am
As the fire consumed bow to stern

    Am                         G
The people gazed on from their safe distant rooms
            Dm                          E
Watched the soot and the smoke fill the sky with their plumes
      Am               G           F               E
But within, the ship's cargo would spell all their dooms
         Am           G        Am
How were they to know to be concerned?

[Verse 3]
    Am                              G
The crew rowed for shore, lest they burn or they drown
     Dm                                E
They cried, "Save your souls!" as they ran through the town
          Am            G           F               E
But their warnings were nothing but strange foreign sounds
        Am            G               Am
For the townsfolk, no French had they learned

    Am                           G
One man, Patrick Coleman, in the railway's employ
     Dm                                E
Sent word, "Stop the trains or they'll all be destroyed
          Am         G            F            E
This will be my last message, farewell to you, boys"
      Am          G            Am
For a true hero's death he had earned

[Verse 4]
   Am                            G
An explosion, colossal, when the munitions blew
    Dm                     E           E7*
Devastation and debris for miles fired through
    Am             G             F             E
The Mont-Blanc was gone, and the town with it, too
        Am           G       Am
And the waters raged up in return

           Am                    G
There were heroes and angels all fated to die
     Dm                         E
Over two thousand souls laid to rest by-and-by
        Am       G          F            E
We will always remember and lift a glass high
       Am           G       Am
To the morning when Halifax burned