Richard Shindell - Sparrows Point Chords

CAPO: 4th Fret



INTRO: C  G  Am

       C           G      Am
My name is William Taylor 
          C         G     
And I was born in '24 
    Am               C     G      Am
Too late to know the Great Fallen 
   C                      G     
In time to know the Great Fall 
        F      C       G     Am
When my father died of money 
   F               C     G
My mother lived in spite 
   F                        C     G  Am
We laughed when nothing was funny 
                     C                G     
And how we wept when nothing was left 


     Am          C         G    Am
So I left her there in boomtown 
       C                      G     
When I reached fifteen years 
      Am         C          G    Am
And I travelled mostly northeast 
        C                     G     
With my head held mostly down 
            F              C       G         Am
'Cause they said there was more in Baltimore 
            F         C           G
Where those shipyards never close 
        F         C         G    Am
You can sell the man your labour 
    C              G          Am
And send the money home 


         C        G         Am
Broadway found me penniless 
        C                     G     
And the mission found me last 
     Am        C        G          Am
They gave me a coat and three days rest 
         C                G     
And when I awoke and left 
  F              C   G          Am
A shroud of steam surrounded me 
    F            C   G
And I was borne away 
      F           C   G          Am
And I found myself at Sparrows Point 
                  C     G        Am
With a slingshot in my hand


         C      G        Am
Standing there around me 
             C    G     
Two thousand idle hands 
      Am             C       G             Am
Their heads bowed low, their hopes not high 
      C                       G     
Their hearts weaned of their homes 
          F           C        G      Am
And their pockets full of photographs 
      F           C        G
Their eyes full of goodbyes 
  F            C      G       Am
I took my place among my kind 
                   C      G      Am
And I held my place in line 


INSTRUMENTAL: Am  C  G  Am  C    G  (2x)
              F  C  G  Am  F  C  G    F  C  G  Am    C  G


        Am        C    G             Am
Now I'm twenty-one and well-employed 
           C               G     
And I send home most of my pay 
            Am          C        G       Am
Which leaves plenty left for cigarettes 
        C                G     
To help me pass the days 
       F            C   G          Am
With beloved friends surrounding me 
         F             C      G
The cold streets so far away 
F          C       G     Am
Three days west of Normandy 
          C        G   
A rifle in my hand