From earlier post by Kevin Littlewood, author of "On Morecombe Bay" ... Here's the song; good luck with it. ON MORECAMBE BAY (I play this with a dropped 6th string. The switch from the A minor chord to the A major chord is something which I do in the song, but if it is too fiddly, you can just stay on the A minor I guess. Anything to keep it simple!) Verse 1. Dm Out beyond the street lamp's empire Am Amaj And the calliope's roar, Dm Beyond the thrift, the wrack, the samphire, Am A maj Where the sea betrays the shore, Dm I have seen them in the tide's wake, Gm As the rain cuts through the spray, Dm Figures on the edge of daybreak Am A maj Walking out on Morecambe Bay chorus Dm For the tide's the very devil, Gm It can run you out of breath, Dm It can race you on the level, Am Amaj It can chase you to your death, Dm Yes the tide's the very devil Gm And the devil has his day Dm Am Amaj Dm On the weary cockle grounds of Morecambe Bay 2. Here's the very life to die for, Here's a life not as it seems, Sleeping on a foreign floor Five to a room no space for dreams. Tempted by the urge to travel, Strangers in a stranger land, Now they dig in sand and gravel, Plastic bags gripped in their hands. chorus For the tide's the very devil, It can run you out of breath, It can race you on the level, It can chase you to your death, Yes the tide's the very devil And the devil has his day On the weary cockle grounds of Morecambe Bay 3. Letters home with money orders See how much we earned today; Tales of crossing Europe's borders, So we came to Morecambe Bay; This is where the cockles sleep In their beds so soft and sound; This is where our watch we keep On these weary cockle grounds chorus For the devil's in the tide's flood He'll be weighing down your shoes He'll be churning up the sea's mud This is one race he won't lose Yes the tide's the very devil And the devil has his day On the weary cockle grounds of Morecambe Bay 4. I have met them in the markets, Brushed their arms in grocery queues, I should have grabbed them by the jacket, Should have told them what I knew; Told them what my mother told me As we paddled in the waves Never try and race the tide Across the sands of Morecambe Bay chorus For the devil's in the tide's flood He'll be weighing down your shoes He'll be churning up the sea's mud This is one race he won't lose Yes the tide's the very devil And the devil has his day On the weary cockle grounds of Morecambe Bay 5. Now I see them in the distance Laid out in the dawn's hard light, Helpless in the sea's persistence, Twenty-three drowned in one night. Up above in skies so clear Their phone calls half the world had crossed 'Between the rivers Kent and Keer We have raced the tide and lost.' chorus For the tide's the very devil, It can run you out of breath, It can race you on the level, It can chase you to your death, Yes the tide's the very devil And the devil has his day On the weary cockle grounds of Morecambe Bay 6. In Fujian, Xelang, Baihu, Where they mourn their next of kin, Where the men with snake tattoos, Rack up the debts and call them in; Parents stand, their arms flung wide As their children drive away, Heading out to race the tide Across some foreign bay. chorus For the tide's the very devil, It can run you out of breath, It can race you on the level, It can chase you to your death, Yes the tide's the very devil And the devil has his day On the weary cockle grounds of Morecambe Bay
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