Ralph Mctell Around The Wild Cape Horn chords

Around The Wild Cape Horn by Ralph Mctell

Capo'd at the 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 J�rs, 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.