Lyr/Chords Req: Sable Island Shores (Ted Germain)

Subject: Lyr. & Crd's for Sable Island Shore
From: HiHo_Silver
Date: 14 Oct 06 - 08:04 PM

Looking for Lyrics, Key and chords for Song Sable Island Shore.
Composed and recorded by Ivan Dorey of Liverpool, N. S. Also recorded by Mildred Small.

Subject: RE: Lyr. & Crd's for Sable Island Shore
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Oct 06 - 06:44 PM

refresh - this song is about one of my favorite places. I'd sure like to see the lyrics.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr. & Crd's for Sable Island Shore
From: Bee
Date: 15 Oct 06 - 06:59 PM

http://www.inmgroup.net/saltwatersounds/id3.html

No lyrics, I'm afraid, but it appears you can buy a compilation including the song at the above site.

My husband is working just off Sable at this very moment. It is clear and cold there tonight.

Subject: Lyr Add: SABLE ISLAND SHORES (Ted Germain)
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 15 Oct 06 - 07:46 PM

This song was actually written by Ted Germain. It was recorded by Smiling Ivan Dorey. Smiling Ivan died a few months ago.
                      Sandy

SABLE ISLAND SHORES
(Ted Germain)

1.Come and listen to a story I will tell to you
Of The Graveyard of the Deep,
Where the ships are caught by the shifting sands
And remain in eternal sleep;
Where the bars of sand are the hands of death
As they sleep beneath the surf
Where they've taken their toll from the ships that have passed
From the first day of their birth;

2.Where the lifeguards wait for the day to come
When a ship is doomed for the grave.
They glide from the beach to the roaring seas,
The lives of the crews to save;
Where the mountains high meet the pale blue sky
And the great, white breakers roar,
And the moon at night sheds its veiling light
On old Sable Island shores;

3.Where the ponies graze on the bright green grass
On the hills of the sandy range.
They herd in the valleys of sand at night,
To be hid from the wind and the rain;
Where the men at night watch a turning light
Send its beacon o'er the waves,
And they trust in God up in Heaven above
To save the ships from a watery grave.

4.So, we salute the lifeguards waiting there
As their days roll into years.
They risk their lives in their daily work,
And they have no room for fear;
Where the mountains high meet the pale blue sky,
The great, white breakers roar,
Where the moon at night spreads its veiling light
On old Sable Island shores.

(alternate 4th verse, composed by K. Woolsey-Germain)

4.Now the men have gone from the sandy isle
And they watch the lights no more,
But they still tell tales of the ghostly ships
And the crews that walk the shores;
Where the mountains high still meet the sky,
The great, white breakers roar,
And the moon at night still sheds its light
On old Sable Island shores.

Subject: RE: Lyr. & Crd's for Sable Island Shore
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 15 Oct 06 - 07:55 PM

Copied from The Nova Scotia Folk Collection by Allister MacGillivray:

TED: "I first went to Sable in 1947, and I had visions of Florida, you know: lots of sand and lots of horses. But if there had been any way of getting off that island besides swimming in the first three weeks I was there, I think I would have tried it! Goodness gracious, there was no let up to the work! You were in water up to your waist twelve hours a day or longer, day in and day out. We had two light stations. The main station was on the west end, and there were twelve or fifteen of us at the West Light; we had one big staff house there. The other light on the east end of the island was called East Light and consisted of five men.

"A fellow by the name of Calvin Day was the cook. Calvin used to play the guitar and, of course, I used to do a bit of singing. Together we'd go to the wireless station, the meteorology station, every so often on a Saturday night; it was just something to break the monotony. Calvin would do the playing and I'd do the singing. After a while, Calvin said to me, 'You know, this team has got to change. You're gonna learn to play this thing (i.e., the guitar).' I said, 'Good. You teach me.' Well, I damn near drove the staff up the walls for the first couple of weeks! But I learned to play, and then I started writing songs.

"I had a twelve-hour watch to do in the light station, and most of the time I had nothing else to do but write; it was either read murder-mysteries or write songs. Then one day the boys said to me, 'Look, you're a singer and a songwriter. Why don't you write a song about this God-forsaken sand heap?' I said, 'Well, maybe one of these days I will. ' So, I was kicking the idea around, and then I finally put the song together. When I went ashore, I went down to Barrington Street (Halifax) to what they called The Barrington Exchange, a second-hand shop where they had a machine for making paper records for 25 ¢. I made a recording of 'Sable Island Shores'. Ivan Dorey and his friend Jimmy were there that night doing some recording too. Ivan asked me, 'Where did you get that song from?' I said, 'I wrote it.' Then, when I found out who he was, I said, 'By the way, we listen to your show every day at lunch hour; it's the only country show we get down at Sable. ' He said, 'Well, I'd like to sing that song of yours. ' So I gave him the words to it, and I made him a copy of the record. But I said, 'Don't do it on the air for at least two weeks-till I get back to the island.

"So, I got back and one day everybody was sitting around having lunch. All of a sudden Ivan says over the radio: 'We've got a brand new song here that we'd like to dedicate to all the light keepers and the lifeboat crew on Sable Island. And it was written by one of the boys from Sable Island. ' Well, all you could hear then was a clatter of knives and forks in the room, and some of the boys said to me, 'You were the only one who was ashore. That must be your song!' So, the cat was out of the bag. And that song was on the radio every day, five days a week, for two years! Ivan had to sing it because he had so many requests for it. And Ivan released the original recording of it, done at CHNS in Halifax with 'Fiddling' Jimmy, and a steel player and a bass player.

"I'd say I've written close to a hundred songs over the past years, but 'Sable Island Shores' is the most successful of them. I calculated it out one time and I believe seventeen artists have recorded it; unfortunately, I'm not always given proper credit.

"You know, the only thing that was holding Sable Island together over the last seventy-Jive years was the hulls of the wrecked ships anchored in the sand. Once they started rotting away, there was nothing left to hold the sand, and now the currents just move the sand freely. Table Top Mountain is gone now; it was made of sand. And when we had a head count of the ponies in 1948, we had 550. I don't know if there's even a dozen left now and, if they don't get those out of there, we're going to lose them too!

"Anyway, as you know, my song has a special dedication. I've dedicated it to all the brave men I worked with-and those who came before me and after-who kept vigil over the East and West Light Stations of Sable Island, 'The Graveyard of the Atlantic'."

Subject: RE: Lyr. & Crd's for Sable Island Shore
From: HiHo_Silver
Date: 16 Oct 06 - 08:45 AM

Thanks for the lyrics. must apologize as I always believed Ivan Dorey had written the lyrics. It would seem to be started in E minor. Chords for the lyrics and original Key would be appreciated.

Subject: RE: Lyr. & Crd's for Sable Island Shore
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 16 Oct 06 - 09:09 AM

I can't say how Dorey did it but Germain started Dm and ends in F.
If you PM me with an e-mail address I could scan and jpeg the score and send it to you directly or, I could snail-mail it to your postal address.
          Sandy

Subject: Tune Add: SABLE ISLAND SHORES (Ted Germain)
From: HiHo_Silver
Date: 18 Oct 06 - 07:25 PM

Have transcribed the following ABC's from the sheet music received from Sandy. Hope they are useful to anyone who requires the tune.

T:SABLE ISLAND SHORES
M:4/4
L:1/4
Q:90
C:TED GERMAIN
S:MELBOURNE MUSIC(CAPAC) BOX 309, MOUNT ALBERT, ONTARIO
N:USED WITH PERMISSION
K:F
"A7+5"F E | D D D D|D D F G|"Bb"F3 D|D2 F F| !
"Gm7"F2 G2|"A" E3 "A7+5" F|"Dm"D4|z4 A, A,|!
"Dm"A, D-D2|"DM/C#"D2 D E|"Dm/C" F D-D2|"Dm/B" F F|!
"Bb6" F2 G F| "A" E2 "A7+5"F-E| "Dm"D4||"Dm" z4 "G6" E D|!
"C" C2 E2 | "C7" G2 B G| "F" A2 F2 | C2 E D|!
"C"C3 E| "C7" G2 B2| "F" A4 | "F7" z4 F F |!
"Bb" D D F2 |B2 c d| "F" c2 A G| F2 E D|!
"C" C2 "C7" B2 | "C6" A2 "C7" E-G| "F" F4| z4 ||!
XX

% ABC2Win Version 2.1 10/18/2006


The chord progression however is very difficult for the average guitar player and more difficult for a guitar player of my status. Perhaps some guitar player out there can simplify the chord progression after listening to the melody and post it. Thanks to all: Jim

Subject: Tune Add: SABLE ISLAND SHORES (Ted Germain)
From: HiHo_Silver
Date: 19 Oct 06 - 09:14 AM

Correction to above ABC's. (Dm chord at second bar)

T:SABLE ISLAND SHORES
M:4/4
L:1/4
Q:90
C:TED GERMAIN
S:MELBOURNE MUSIC(CAPAC) BOX 309, MOUNT ALBERT, ONTARIO
N:USED WITH PERMISSION
K:F
"A7+5" F E | "Dm"D D D D|D D F G|"Bb"F3 D|D2 F F| !
"Gm7"F2 G2|"A" E3 "A7+5" F|"Dm"D4|z4 A, A,|!
"Dm"A, D-D2|"DM/C#"D2 D E|"Dm/C" F D-D2|"Dm/B" F F|!
"Bb6" F2 G F| "A" E2 "A7+5"F-E| "Dm"D4||"Dm" z4 "G6" E D|!
"C" C2 E2 | "C7" G2 B G| "F" A2 F2 | C2 E D|!
"C"C3 E| "C7" G2 B2| "F" A4 | "F7" z4 F F |!
"Bb" D D F2 |B2 c d| "F" c2 A G| F2 E D|!
"C" C2 "C7" B2 | "C6" A2 "C7" E-G| "F" F4| z4 ||!
XX

% ABC2Win Version 2.1 10/19/2006

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Sable Island Shore (Ted Germain)
From: GUEST
Date: 29 May 11 - 01:07 AM

MY husband is trying to learn it right now. I wish there were a recording of it on you tube.

Julie, USA

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Sable Island Shore (Ted Germain)
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 29 May 11 - 05:54 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUM4z5qxxhw

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Sable Island Shore (Ted Germain)
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 29 May 11 - 05:57 PM

Sorry but I am having trouble with the linkmaker . The above URL should go to Smilin' Ivan Dorey's original recording thanks to YouTube.

Subject: Lyr Add: SABLE ISLAND SHORE (from Ivan Dorey)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 02 Jun 11 - 11:14 AM

The lyrics posted above by Sandy McLean are a bit different from the way Smilin' Ivan sings it. For one thing, the last halves of the first 3 verses are switched around. Also, there are a few words that I hear differently, although the differences aren't very significant.

Also, the title seems to be SABLE ISLAND SHORE (not SHORES). That's the way it appears on 2 albums: "Canadian Country Classics, Vol. 2" (197?) and "The Nova Scotia Song Album" (1976). (This information is from WorldCat.org.) And that's the way Smilin' Ivan pronounces it.


SABLE ISLAND SHORE
As sung by Smilin' Ivan Dorey

1. Come listen to a story I will tell to you
Of the graveyard of the deep,
Where the ships are caught by the shifting sands
And remain in eternal sleep,
Where the mountains high meet the pale blue sky,
The great white breakers roar,
And the moon at night sends its veiling light
On old Sable Island shore.

2. Where the lifeguards wait for the dawn to come
When a ship is doomed for the grave.
They glide o'er the beach to the roaring seas,
The lives of the crews to save,
Where the men at night watch a turning light
Send its beacon o'er the waves,
And they trust in God up in Heaven above
To save the ships from a watery grave.

3. Where the ponies graze on the bright green grass
O'er the hills of Sandy Range,
They herd to the valleys of sand at night,
To be hid from the winds and the rain.
Where the bars of sand are the hands of death
As they sleep beneath the surf,
And they've taken their toll of the ships that have passed,
From the first day of their birth.

4. So, we salute the lifeguards waiting there
As the days roll into years.
They risk their lives in their daily work,
And they have no room for fear,
Where the mountains high meet the pale blue sky,
The great white breakers roar,
And the moon at night sends its veiling light
On old Sable Island shore.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Sable Island Shore (Ted Germain)
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Jun 11 - 11:52 AM

Refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Sable Island Shore (Ted Germain)
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 02 Jun 11 - 08:31 PM

I went back and checked The Nova Scotia Song Collection and Germain definitely has it as "shores". Perhaps Germain changed the song after he gave it to Dorey or perhaps Dorey changed it himself.
Germain recorded it after Dorey did on "16 Great Canadian Country Artists (Banff RDS-1265)" according to the book.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Sable Island Shore (Ted Germain)
From: GUEST,Jane Dunlop, Liverpool
Date: 04 Sep 11 - 08:13 PM

Hi Sandy,

My father used to play this song on his guitar when I was little. I think it was just one of the factors that made me feel the strong need to get to Sable. The trip I did accomplished this summer in celebration of my 50th birthday and shared the experience with my sister and five close girl friends. Sable was amazing and far exceeded my expectations. Ted Germain's recollections are funny, it is unfortunate that he didn't have more fond memories of the Island. I would love to have an original recording of the song. Any ideas about acquiring that?

Thanks,

Jane

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Sable Island Shores (Ted Germain)
From: GUEST,jim dockstader
Date: 08 Jan 12 - 06:02 PM

I lived next door to Ted Germain in Lachine, Quebec in the late 60's.
During those years we spent much time together. We lost touch and would love to get in contact with him. If anyone can help please reply

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Sable Island Shores (Ted Germain)
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 08 Jan 12 - 10:39 PM

Sorry to have missed Jane's Sep 11 posting before the thread got re-buried. There is an old saying that goes "It's a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there!" That perhaps reflects Germain's feelings because the work was hard and the conditions harsh, not to mention the isolation.I only have Dorey's recording of the song, the same as the YouTube link above.
Jim, the only thing that I can suggest in trying to contact Germain is this. The copyright of the song is referenced to:
       Melbourne Music
          Box 309
       Mount Albert, Ontario
If he is still alive they should know where to find him. Best of luck and if you find out more please update this thread.
                         Sandy

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Sable Island Shores (Ted Germain)
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Apr 13 - 02:30 AM

[e-mail]

Ted is alive but in poor health. He's 82 and currently residing in Lower East Jeddore, NS. Ted's mom,'Aunt Wavie' was my grandmother's sister. Efforts are being made to secure residency for Ted in a senior's residence.

Re: the authorship of Sable Island Shores. Ted told me that he wrote the first 3 verses of the song but had difficulty with a conclusion. Enter Ivan Dorey; he wrote the last verse and subsequently made the first "aired" recording.

In essence, the song was co-authored with the lion's share of the effort due to Ted. Ted spent 18 months on Sable. At the time of the song's inception, it's doubtful that Ivan had any idea as to life on the Island. Without a doubt, Ted did.

kdf

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Sable Island Shores (Ted Germain)
From: GUEST,Fred Isenor
Date: 01 Sep 13 - 01:43 PM

Ted Germain passed away and his service will be at Jeddore Baptist Church on Friday, September 6th.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Sable Island Shores (Ted Germain)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Sep 13 - 02:38 PM

Of course there were also the stories about the wreckers of Sable Island, who were supposed to be the reason the lifeguard operation was set up, back in the 19th century.

here is a link to a boys' novel about that, The Wreckers of Sable Island You can read online, or download.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Sable Island Shores (Ted Germain)
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 01 Sep 13 - 08:58 PM

RIP Ted! Thanks for a great song!

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Sable Island Shores (Ted Germain)
From: SuperDave
Date: 26 Oct 18 - 11:49 AM

This song was on the "Singalong Jubilee" album, performed beautifully by Jim Bennett. His was close to the Smilin' Ivan Dorey version listed above. 1st verse, with chords (ChordPro format):

Come and [Em]listen to a story I will tell to you
Of the graveyard [D]of the [Em]deep,
Where the ships are caught by the shifting sands
And remain in [D]eternal [Em]sleep,
Where the [D]mountains high meet the [G]pale blue sky,
The [D]great white breakers [G]roar,
And the [C]moon at night sends its [G]veiling light
On old [D]Sable Island [G]shore.

I think (but it's hard to tell for sure) that Jim sang the second-last line as "failing light" instead of "veiling light" - either one works.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Sable Island Shores (Ted Germain)
From: GUEST,Marcus Munn
Date: 01 Jun 19 - 01:58 PM

This is my great grandfather thank you for sharing I have been trying to learn this song by ear