The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #92062   Message #3319079
Posted By: GUEST
07-Mar-12 - 11:14 PM
Thread Name: Chord Req: Beaches of St Valery (Davy Steele)
Subject: Lyr/Chords Add: BEACHES OF ST VALERY (Davy Steele)
I accidentally posted this to the lyrics request page, but here it is again, pretty faithful to the batllefield band version. It starts with an open d string, then open g string, then hammer on the 2nd fret of the d string, then a G chord, then add the first fret on the b string, then a d chord, the drop the 2nd fret of the d string, then hit the fourth fret of the A string, then a Cadd9 chord (A C with the 3rd frets of the B and high E string added)...thats the intro.

G           D       C
It was in 1940, the last days of Spring.
               G             D          C
We were sent to the Maginot line,
AM7                               G
A fortress in France, built to halt the advance,
          C                         D
Of an army from a different time.
               G                       D          C
But we were soon overrun, out-thought and outgunned.
G                        D            C
Pushed further back every day.
Am7                         G
But we never believed high command would just leave us.
            C            AM7                    D
So we fought every step of the way

'Til the 51st Highlanders found themselves on

The banks of the Somme one more time.

It still bore the scars of that war to end wars.

The old soldier's scars deep in their minds.

But we didn't stay long for the Panzers rolled on

As the battle raged west t'wards the sea,

Until on June the 10th when sapped of all strength

We entered St. Valery

Chorus:
         C                        G
And all I recall is the last boat leavin'!
      C                         Am7                            d7
My brother on board waving and calling to me
              G                      D                  C
And the Jocks stranded there wi' his hands in the air
          G                D       Cadd9
On the beaches of St. Valery

So I huddled all night in a hammered old house
     As the shells and the bullets rained down
     'Til just before dawn our hopes were still strong
     For we moved to the beach from the town
     But the boat that had left on the day we arrived
     Was the last one that we'd ever see
     An' with no ammo or food we had done all we could
     Se we surrendered at St. Valery
 
Chorus:
 
4) When I returned at the end of the war,
     From the Stalag where I'd been confined,
     I read of the battles the allies had fought,
     Stalingrad, Alamein, and the Rhine.
     And with pride in their hearts people spoke of Dunkirk
     Where defeat had become victory
     But nobody mentioned that Highland Division.
     They'd never heard of St.Valery
 
 
5) No stories no statues for those that were killed.
     No honors for those who were gone.
     Just a deep sense of shame as though we were to blame,
     Though I knew in my heart we were not.
     So I've moved to a country I've come to call home
     But my homeland lies far o'er the sea.
     I will never return while my memory still burns
     On the beaches of St. Valery.
 
Chorus: