Quite the time capsule to revisit old threads like this. I've since recorded this song on my "Song and the Sigh" CD. Now, I do the song the way I learned it from John McCutcheon 25 years ago (!), which is not exactly the way Si sings it.

His words are closer to:

WHAT WILL I LEAVE

Words and music
by Si Kahn


Late in the evening as light fades away
In silence we gather together
Searching the faces of those who are here
For those who have left us forever

    What will I leave
    What will I leave
    What will I leave behind
    When I am gone
    Who'll carry on
    What will I leave behind

Where are the ones who caught flame in the night
Fired up by the heat of devotion
Measuring their lives by the light of the truth
They burned like a lamp on the ocean

Who will remember the words of the brave
That lifted us higher and higher
Who will remember the price that they paid
For lives lived too close to the fire

Hearts of the ones who inherit your lives
Will rest in the truth you have spoken
Memory will echo the trust that you kept
Like you it will never be broken


John's (and therefore my) melody differ a bit from Si's original as well, although Si has always been very gracious about that.

In D, chords to go with Si's version would be more or less:


D                      A          Bm
Late in the evening as light fades away
   G          D          A7
In silence we gather together
D                      A             Bm
Searching the faces of those who are here
    G             D         A7-D
For those who have left us forever
   
    D
    What will I leave
    G
    What will I leave
    d                   A7
    What will I leave behind
    D
    When I am gone
    G
    Who'll carry on
    D                A7-D
    What will I leave behind

I think. I'm pulling this out of my, er, hat, and Si may vary it a bit more than I remember. Plus different browsers render spacing differently, so yo'll have to listen for the chord changes. There's a brief excerpt of my version on CDBaby - http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/danschatz2 - you can listen to, but again it's a bit different from Si's.

Good luck!

Dan