Ralph McTell

Around The Wild Cape Horn(Chords)

Ralph McTell

Key: G

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Capo on 2nd fret
	        


G                       C    G       Em     D       C 
I was born a land-bound farm boy and in New England raised, 
                    G                       Em            D 
The rippling of the wheat fields, well they were my ocean waves. 
     G                  C        G            Em      D         C 
Each cry and call, each rise and fall, of the crows a-cross the corn 
              G          D         G         C                  Em     D 
Were seagulls swooping a-cross the bow, of a ship I dreamed I?d sail a-round 
     G 
Cape Horn. 


G                     C    G        Em           D         C 
My deck was the dusty farm yard, my mast was the telegraph pole 
                              G                      Em               D 
And the windblow choir in the telephone wire was the call heard in my soul 
G                C         G       Em                 D     C 
And it seemed to have been singing since the day that I was born 
                 G         D       G     C           Em         D          
I'm gonna take a trip on a sailing ship, all the way around the wild Cape  
G 
Horn 

G                         C  G         Em      D       C 
Well I found that ship in Hamburg, her name it was Peking 
                       G                     Em                   D 
Our skipper?s name was Captain Jürs, and I?d never met a man like him. 
G                     C        G           Em         D      C 
He pulled two men out from the sea, by the hair, in a raging storm. 
                 G         D       G     C           Em         D 
And he kept that grip on a sailing ship, all the way around the wild Cape 
G 
Horn. 

D                                             Am                          
Well its four hours on and its four hours off and you sleep in your wet 
C 
clothes 
                   G                  C     Em     D 
The only dry thing on the ship is the cargo down below 
G               C        G       Em          D       C 
Eleven thousand miles we sailed, nigh on one hundred dawns 
G          D          G       C                Em         D         G 
Thirty two sails on a heaving ship, pulling us around the wild cape horn 

G                           C        G         Em         D        C 
Well the cargo weighed five thousand tons, the ship three thousand more. 
                G                  Em                D 
An acre of sail was up aloft, some seventeen storeys tall. 
G                       C       G         Em     D      C 
And we had a pig, and a scruffy dog and a turkey fed on corn. 
G           D         G         C                Em         D         G 
And willing hands who catch the wind, hauling us around the wild Cape Horn. 

G                     C    G                 Em     D        C 
For seventeen days we were becalmed and then Friday the thirteenth 
                  G                      Em           D 
Sixty eight great ships were lost in the storm of the century. 
G                          C      G       Em      D         C 
But we were swept into the Atlantic, on a sun-lit sparkling morn, 
G              D           G       C                 Em         D 
The turkey got sick, so we ate him quick, on the way around the wild Cape  
G 
Horn. 
  
D                                      Am                C 
Well she had us sort of hypnotised, no time to catch our breath, 
                    G                    C       Em         D 
If you want to feel real alive, well you have to flirt with death. 
G                 C         G         Em        D          C 
Sail close to the harnessed wind, and treat all risks with scorn 
G          D      G         C                       Em         D 
A farm boy and an un-yoked team, ploughed their way around the wild Cape  
G 
Horn. 

G                     C        G          Em         D    C 
Now on that voyage we lost two boys, they got thrown overboard. 
                G              Em               D 
Silence from us down below, no one could put in words. 
G                  C        G        Em        D        C 
Two empty bunks to mark the space in our young lives to mourn, 
G     D           G        C                 Em         D         G 
Voids between all life and death, on the way around the wild Cape Horn 

G                        C  G       Em      D        C 
And mountain waves, like avalanches crashed upon the decks, 
                            G                    Em               D 
The screaming winds snapped ropes and spars, and tried to have us wrecked. 
G                             C        G          Em         D          C 
But she rose and fell through foam and swell, her sails were ripped and torn 
G              D    G             C                Em         D         G 
Eight thousand tons tossed like a cork, on the way around the wild Cape Horn. 

D                                     Am                C 
And she had us sort of hypnotised, no time to catch our breath, 
                    G                    C       Em         D 
If you want to feel real alive, well you have to flirt with death. 
G                 C         G         Em        D          C 
Sail close to the harnessed wind, and treat all risks with scorn 
G          D      G         C                       Em         D 
A farm boy and an un-yoked team, ploughed their way around the wild Cape  
G 
Horn. 
G                D   G        C                        Em         D 
Well, a farm boy and un-yoked team, ploughed their way around the wild Cape  
G 
Horn.
	        

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