Lyr/Chords Req: Able Baker (Harvey Andrews)

Subject: Able, baker, Charlie
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Jun 01 - 06:46 PM

This is a challenge for all you folks out there who usually come up with the goods. Anyone have any info on this song, probably by Harvey andrews? Sorry, don't have any more info at all, but someone I met has tried in vain to find it.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Able, baker, Charlie
From: Sorcha
Date: 27 Jun 01 - 06:54 PM

I don't suppose this is it? That was all I really found.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Able, baker, Charlie
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Jun 01 - 06:59 PM

Thanks for that fast response, Sorcha, but I don't think that is it. I have a feeling it was about the airfoce (UK)

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Able, baker, Charlie
From: Snuffy
Date: 27 Jun 01 - 07:11 PM

Able Baker etc was the alphabet the RAF used in WWII before the international Alpha Bravo was adopted

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Able, baker, Charlie
From: Sorcha
Date: 27 Jun 01 - 07:19 PM

Yea, Snuff. Besides the lyrics to a Greatful Dead song, that page has a LOT of explanation of different phonetic alphabets. PD here uses proper names--Adam Brian Charles David, etc. but I still tend to use Alpha Bravo which is what my Dad used.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Able, baker, Charlie
From: GUEST,bigJ
Date: 27 Jun 01 - 08:31 PM

Yes, it is Harvey Andrews and he recorded it in 1980 on his LP 'Margarita' on Beeswing Records LBEE 001 - I suspect that it was his own label.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Able, baker, Charlie
From: nutty
Date: 28 Jun 01 - 03:22 AM

Details of the Harvey Andrews records can be found here

CLICK HERE

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Able, baker, Charlie
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Jun 01 - 05:31 PM

Mudcat came through again! Thanks, folks

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Able, baker, Charlie
From: bobby's girl
Date: 03 Jul 01 - 06:23 PM

Its a wonderful song which makes me cry every time I listen to it, but Harvey can do that to you!

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Able, baker, Charlie
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Jul 01 - 01:42 PM

Can you give me any details of the words/chords, bobby's girl?

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Able, baker, Charlie
From: Ditchdweller
Date: 04 Jul 01 - 02:32 PM

To Snuffy; Able Baker was the US system. The RAF phonetic alphabet used Apple as the 1st code word. The code words used in NATO system btw, were selected because they are all know and have the same initial letter in most NATO languages.

Subject: Origins: Alpha Baker Charlie
From: GUEST,Ebisu
Date: 01 Oct 03 - 03:16 PM

In the middle/late 1970s in Malta I heard Harvey Andrews sing a song about a Second World War RAF aircrew member, and I think the song may have been entitled Alpha Baker Charlie.   Can anyone put me close to a source, please?   It's a lovely song and I would hate to lose it - and the memory.

Subject: RE: Origins: Alpha Baker Charlie
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 Oct 03 - 03:41 PM

Not in "Airman's Song Book," (Royal Air Force and allied) under that title. Could you give us a few lines or words?

Subject: RE: Origins: Alpha Baker Charlie
From: GUEST,Peter from Essex
Date: 01 Oct 03 - 03:47 PM

A bit before my time but I think the WW2 phonetic alphabet started was Able, Baker, Charlie etc. The modern international version starts Alpha Bravo Charlie.

Subject: RE: Origins: Alpha Baker Charlie
From: GUEST,Ebisu
Date: 01 Oct 03 - 03:51 PM

Hi Q and Peter from Essex:   can't remember any lyrics but memory tells me it was about an RAF aircrew member who fell on hard times;   and it must have been Able Baker Charlie!!

Many thanks

Subject: RE: Origins: Alpha Baker Charlie
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 Oct 03 - 05:01 PM

Peter, you are correct, but the song doesn't show with Able or Alpha.

Subject: RE: Origins: Alpha Baker Charlie
From: Allan C.
Date: 01 Oct 03 - 05:09 PM

For what it is worth, the phonetic alphabet as used by the RAF went through some changes over the years. You can see them here.

Subject: RE: Origins: Alpha Baker Charlie
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 02 Oct 03 - 03:40 AM

Bit of thread creep ... A "telephone speller" aphabet used in WWI included Ack, Beer, Aitch, Emma, Pip, Toc ... So the charitable organisation Talbot House is still known today as Toc H; there was a WWII radio programme called "Ack ack, beer beer"; anti-aircraft (AA) artillery was still called ack-ack in WWII; and you may occasionaly still come across people old enough to say "ack-emma" and "pip-emma" for a.m and p.m.

Steve

Subject: Lyr Add: ABLE BAKER (Harvey Andrews)
From: harvey andrews
Date: 02 Oct 03 - 06:05 AM

I recorded it about 1980 on the album "Margarita", but when we came to transfer it to cd the recording was not technically good enough to reproduce.


ABLE BAKER
(Harvey Andrews)

There hasn't been much to do for a long time
Someone won the war they say
But he won't give thanks to you for thinking
We're far better off that way
For he wore the wings and the runway waited
Spitfire flies like a bird of prey
Heinkels come again for hunting
As they did that far off May

And he rummages through all the books in view
The belts, the badges, after something new
And he reads the novels to remind him when
He fought beside the best of men

Ghosts and shades that haunt the memory
Words he hears but can't recall
A place that brings a face before him
Names upon a billet wall

One more year and the boys reunion
Finds another face not there
Still he wears the faded ribbon of the Cross
And the Croix de Guerre

And he flies again with the boys in blue
The Few remaining of the very few
And he tells the tales that he's told before
As he feels again the esprit de corps
With his victory roll and a mounting toll
He's a fighter pilot with an aces soul
And he drinks with boys who will soon be men
And he wakes at dawn
And he flies again

And he flies again
Able Baker, Charlie Two and Angels ten,
And the fields of England pass beneath the men
Who fly again, who fly again
Who fly again, who fly again

There hasn't been much to do for a long time
Someone won the war....they say

Subject: RE: Origins: Alpha Baker Charlie
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Oct 03 - 08:27 PM

Just to make sure things were perfectly clear, I e-mailed Harvey and asked him if he wrote the song. Here's his reply:

Sorry Joe, I should have acknowledged authorship. Guilty as charged!
Cheers,
Harvey

So I added his name to the lyrics above. Thanks, Harvey!
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Origins: Alpha Baker Charlie
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 02 Oct 03 - 08:45 PM

Sooo....is...Ebisu...really.....Harvey....lookings for??????

OR...is Joe a friend of Harvey.....pretending to be Ebisu?

OR....is Ebisu really Ebisu the GUEST?

Sincerely,

Gargoyle

Without a tune...can it be judged a "lovely song?" or is it only poetry????? Is a song recorded but never heard outside of vynal vernal????? Will Ebisu share "his recall" and enrich the DT wealth or mearly remain a lurker....sucking on old memories like a dry bottle of malta barley?

Subject: Chord Req: Able Baker Harvey Andrews
From: skipy
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 06:53 PM

I think there is a folk singer called Harvey Andrews & he wrote a song called able baker, anyone got the chords for it? Perhaps even that Harvey bloke.
Skipy

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Able Baker (Harvey Andrews)
From: GUEST,999
Date: 02 Sep 12 - 08:43 PM

Chords are here.

One may also see/hear the song performed on YouTube.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Able Baker (Harvey Andrews)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Sep 12 - 04:55 AM

Chords request still unanswered.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Able Baker (Harvey Andrews)
From: rumanci
Date: 18 Sep 12 - 10:49 AM

There are chords posted at the link provided by Guest,999 but I cannot move them accurately to here Joe.

http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/h/harvey_andrews/able_baker_crd.htm

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Able Baker (Harvey Andrews)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 Sep 12 - 05:38 AM

Able Baker
  Harvey Andrews
  Capo:III
  
  This was recorded by Harvey Andrews on his 1980 vinyl album Margarita (Beeswing
  Records). There is a YouTube video of him singing this song at Acoustic Routes Cambridge 
  in 2007
  (search for 'Harvey Andrews Acoustic Routes' as the song title is not in the video 
  title). He plays it with the capo at fret 3 and uses the chords of the key of G but in the
  video recording his tuning seems to be about a quarter tone down. Watch out for the 
  slight change of pattern in the second lines of verses 6 and 7.
  
  
  Intro: play the chords of the first verse
  
        G                   D
  There hasn't been much to do for a long time
  C       G       D        G
  Someone won the war they say
         C                    G       Em
  But he won't give thanks to you for thinking
  A7                 D
    We're far better off that way
  
         G                      D
  For he wore the wings and the runway waited
  C        G            D       G
  Spitfire flies like a bird of prey
  C               G       Em
  Heinkels come again for hunting
  A7                 D
    As they did that far off May
  
         G                        D
  And he rummages through all the books in view
      C          G             D         G
  The belts, the badges, after something new
     C                     G        Em
  He reads the novels to remind him when
  A7                      D
     He fought beside the best of men
  
  G                      D
  Ghosts and shades that haunt the memory
  C        G         D        G
  Words he hears but can't recall
    C                   G      Em
  A place that brings a face before him
  A7             D
    Names upon a billet wall
  
  G                     D
  One more year and the boys reunion
  C      G      D        G
  Finds another face not there
  C                    G     Em
    Still he wears the faded ribbon
  A7                     D
    Of the Cross and the Croix de Guerre
  
         G                    D
  And he flies again with the boys in blue
      G                    C    G
  The Few remaining of the very few
     C                         G      Em
  He tells the tales that he's told before
        A7                 D
  And he feels again the esprit de corps
  
         G                    D
  With his victory roll and a mounting toll
         G                     C    G
  He's a fighter pilot with an aces soul
     C                         G       Em
  He drinks with boys who will soon be men
         A7                D
  And he wakes at dawn, he flies again
          G       C       G    D
  And he flies......... again
  
       G              D              G  D  G
  Able Baker, Charlie Two and Angels Ten,
           G                D                G
  And the fields of England pass beneath the men
              D              G
    Who fly again, who fly again
              D              G
    Who fly again, who fly again
              D              G   D G
    Who fly again, who fly again

http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/h/harvey_andrews/able_baker_crd.htm

Thanks, Rumanci.