I sent a personal message to Fran asking for complete lyrics to "Tall Ships." In the meantime, I found it here (click) and here (click). You can download the 22-minute recording here (click) (and there's a shorter version there, too.
-Joe Offer-


Tall Ships
by Steve Knightley
incorporating Winter's Welcome and Well-Bred Clowns and the traditional Spanish Ladies

(On the coast: a fisherman - spoken)
Give us a wreck or two, good Lord
For winter along this coast is hard:
The grey frost creeps like mortal sin
There's no food in the larder, no bread in the bin.
One rich wreck is all we pray,
Busted abroad at break of day,
Broken and splintered upon the reef
With food and stores to calm our grief!
Lord of rock and tide and sky,
Heed our call, hark to our cry!
Bread by the bag, beef by the cask -
Food for poor hearts - is all we ask.

(chorus)
On the skyline the tall ships sail by,
Bound for London, their decks piled high
Fruits of warmer lands, passing through our hands
So we wait for a storm in the sky.

1. Farewell and adieu to you Spanish ladies
Farewell, adieu, you ladies of Spain.
We've received orders to sail back to England,
We hope in a short time to see you again.
We'll rant and we'll roar like true British sailors
We'll rant and we'll roar all on the salt sea,
Till we strike soundings in the channel of old England
From Ushant to Scilly is thirty-five leagues.

2. We hove our ship to with the wind from sou'west, boys
We hove our ship to, deep soundings to take;
'Twas forty-five fathoms, with a white sandy bottom,
We squared our main yard and up channel did make.
We will rant and we'll roar like true British sailors,
We'll rant and we'll roar all on the salt sea,
Until we strike soundings in the channel of old England;
From Ushant to Scilly is thirty-five leagues.

3. Oh the fishermen rise with the sun,
And they work till the day's nearly done,
Hauling empty nets, while the cold sun sets
And the winter has barely begun.

4. There's a lighthouse a mile from the shore
That the storm-weary sailors search for,
When the wind and rain bring their gales again,
It won't shine for them any more!

On the skyline the tall ships sail by,
Bound for London, their decks piled high
Fruits of warmer lands, passing through our hands
So we look for a storm in the sky.

5. Sweet thoughts of home came to me today
Far too long now I've been away
I'll stay away no longer
Come you homeward winds blow stronger,
Blow stronger, I'm homeward bound.
I'm homeward bound.

6. With the first sight of the West Country shore
We swear we won't go to sea any more
Sweethearts and wives seem dearer
As the English coast draws nearer.

7. Now soon, their welcome will warm a winter's heart
We'll vow nothing will pull us apart
There'll be a short time of plenty
We'll think agian when our pockets are empty.

8. Now a grey cloud blackens the clear western skies.
Fear and welcome join both in our eyes.
Full sail and a straining main-mast,
Run with the wind, we'll fly while the storm lasts.
While the storm lasts.
I'm homeward bound.
I'm homeward bound.

9. As the rain blackened clouds gather round,
And the roaring gales drown every sound
All eyes search the night for the ray of light
That warns where the black rocks are found.

(On the ship: sailor - spoken)
I know this place...I know this shoreline
Something's wrong...something's wrong!

Five fathoms! Four fathoms! Three fathoms!
WE'RE RUNNING AGROUND! WE'RE RUNNING AGROUND!
Look out! We're running a...

(On the shore: Fisherman - spoken)
One rich wreck! Or maybe two,
Food and stores to see us through
Till spring leaps up like break of day
And fish return to the empty bay.
One rich wreck! For thy hand is strong.
A brig or a merchantman from Apalong.
Caught on your twisted tides, good Lord,
And drawn by our false lights to the shore.

10. I rose with the morning on a rain-washed day
Early, and I walked along the shore;
Watching the broken, splintered driftwood coming in,
I listened to the ocean roar;
The town slowly waking, and I walked from the sea
Parents break in to their children's dreams;
Mothers start to call,
Fathers reach the stirring streets,
And wonder what another morning brings.

11. All they have to sell is the strength of two strong arms
All they own, standing in their shoes.
And the price of your labour in deep winter, it falls and falls,
The point came, there was nothing left to lose:
We paid the price of winter and we buy another year
It's time to search the heart and count the cost.
Take the guilty conscience and the widow's bitter tear
And what we gain is someone else's loss.

12. Yesterday the gales that shook the roof-top slates,
Today, the breeze gently turns your hair.
And the tide that closed its fist and snapped a broad ship's back
Now softly takes the white gulls from the air.
Oh, the banker's purse is like a deep black well,
For every other well-bred clown;
And the mercahnt has a fleet full of young men's lives.
He can risk one in twenty going down.

13. I rose with the morning on a rain-washed day,
It was early and I walked along the shore.
I knelt down by the water where my brother lay,
I listened to the ocean roar...

14. We have families with sons on the sea
Oh they work the tall ships of the sea;
But our choice is made by the winter days,
And the children who watch from the quay.

15. That wild evening the word flew around,
A tall merchantman's tempted aground
How we shout and sing! glad to greet the spring,
Though we weep for the sailors we've drowned!

On the skyline the tall ships sail by,
Bound for London, their decks piled high
Fruits of warmer lands, passing through our hands,
So we look for a storm in the sky.

16. November wind chills to the bone,
And December rain lashes the stones.
Sea that brings us life! take your sacrifice
And bring back the hope to our homes.

On the skyline the tall ships sail by,
Bound for London, their decks piled high
Fruits of warmer lands, passing through our hands
So we look for a storm in the sky.

17. Oh the fishermen rise with the sun,
And they work till the day's nearly done;
Hauling empty nets while the cold sun sets
And the winter has barely begun.

On the skyline the tall ships sail by,
Bound for London, their decks piled high
Fruits of warmer lands, passing through our hands
So we look for a storm in the sky.
Ah we look for a storm in the sky.