The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #25983   Message #309432
Posted By: Joan from Wigan
01-Oct-00 - 02:35 AM
Thread Name: Lyr/Chords Req: The Angel of Long Point (Joe Grant
Subject: Lyr Add: THE ANGEL OF LONG POINT (Joe Grant)
This song is by Tanglefoot (Canada) and is on their most recent CD "Full Throated Abandon". All their lyrics are on their website. Sorry I can't do a blue clicky thing, but their url is www.kawartha.com, and access their Discography section.

The notes to the song are as follows:

'Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes, and has claimed more than her share of ships over the years. Long Point is a spit of land in Ontario that extends 11 miles into the lake. Abigail Becker lived there in the 1850s. Reportedly over six feet tall and immensely strong, she is credited with rescuing numerous shipwrecked sailors, among them the crew of The Conductor, which ran aground about 1854.'

THE ANGEL OF LONG POINT
(Words and Music by Joe Grant)

It's a (D)cruel night in November and an (A7)old three-masted schooner
Seeks the (G)leaside of the sand spit, the calm of the inner (D)bay
But she's fast upon the bar and (A7)lashed by all the fury
(G)Freezing sleet and snow, all the rage of old Lake (D)Erie
With (A7)ice weighed down, her (D)keel dug in
The old (G)ship will never (D)sail again

Now her (D)decks are all awash and there's a (A7)fierce list o'er to starboard
And no (G)footing in the wild wind to take the men to (D)safety
And her Captain sees the peril with the (A7)heaving hulk beneath them
So he (G)cries in desperation, "We'll tie ourselves to the (D)rigging"

Chorus:
(A7)Eight men wait for a freezing death
(G)Lashed to the rigging of a broken (D)wreck
The Conductor she was a fine old ship
But she (A7)never will sail again
And the (G)men all pray but the hope is gone
The schooner's smashed but in the (D)dawn
A welcome fire and a (G)woman's face
With a good strong hand she'll lead them all a(A7)shore
(G)Abigail Becker will (A7)see them safe once (D)more

In the shelter of the sand dunes there stands a lonely cabin
Where a woman called the Angel awakes from a troubled sleep
For her dreams have been of shipwreck, of sailors' lives in peril
So she scans the lake and marshes to find as first light's breaking
Three masts aground, her keel dug in
Held fast never to sail again

So she girds her skirts around her and wades into the water
Through the breakers and the undertow, though she cannot swim a stroke
And she hails the weary sailors and with bare-handed courage
Brings them one by one half-frozen to the fire she's made on shore

chorus

She's a lake of fickle temper, heavy seas and hellish weather
Old Erie's claimed so many on her hidden bars and shoals
But the Long Point has an Angel who watches o'er the water
And fortunate the sailor who feels her steady hand

chorus

Old Erie has a temper but Abigail defies her
Abigail the Angel who guards the Long Point shore