I was born a land-bound farm boy and in New England raised,
The rippling of the wheat fields, well they were my ocean waves.
Each cry and call, each rise and fall, of the crows a-cross the corn
Were seagulls swooping a-cross the bow, of a ship I dreamed I'd sail a-round
Cape Horn.

My deck was the dusty farm yard, my mast was the telegraph pole
And the windblow choir in the telephone wire was the call heard in my soul
And it seemed to have been singing since the day that I was born
I’m gonna take a trip on a sailing ship, all the way around the wild Cape
Horn

Well I found that ship in Hamburg, her name it was Peking
Our skipper’s name was Captain Jürs, and I’d never met a man like him.
He pulled two men out from the sea, by the hair, in a raging storm.
And he kept that grip on a sailing ship, all the way around the wild Cape
Horn.

Well its four hours on and its four hours off and you sleep in your wet
clothes
The only dry thing on the ship is the cargo down below
Eleven thousand miles we sailed, nigh on one hundred dawns
Thirty two sails on a heaving ship, pulling us around the wild cape horn

Well the cargo weighed five thousand tons, the ship three thousand more.
An acre of sail was up aloft, some seventeen storeys tall.
And we had a pig, and a scruffy dog and a turkey fed on corn.
And willing hands who catch the wind, hauling us around the wild Cape Horn.

For seventeen days we were becalmed and then Friday the thirteenth
Sixty eight great ships were lost in the storm of the century.
But we were swept into the Atlantic, on a sun-lit sparkling morn,
The turkey got sick, so we ate him quick, on the way around the wild Cape
Horn.

Well she had us sort of hypnotised, no time to catch our breath,
If you want to feel real alive, well you have to flirt with death.
Sail close to the harnessed wind, and treat all risks with scorn
A farm boy and an un-yoked team, ploughed their way around the wild Cape
Horn.

Now on that voyage we lost two boys, they got thrown overboard.
Silence from us down below, no one could put in words.
Two empty bunks to mark the space in our young lives to mourn,
Voids between all life and death, on the way around the wild Cape Horn

And mountain waves, like avalanches crashed upon the decks,
The screaming winds snapped ropes and spars, and tried to have us wrecked.
But she rose and fell through foam and swell, her sails were ripped and torn
Eight thousand tons tossed like a cork, on the way around the wild Cape Horn.

And she had us sort of hypnotised, no time to catch our breath,
If you want to feel real alive, well you have to flirt with death.
Sail close to the harnessed wind, and treat all risks with scorn
A farm boy and an un-yoked team, ploughed their way around the wild Cape
Horn.
Well, a farm boy and un-yoked team, ploughed their way around the wild Cape
Horn.

What is it about you, makes me feel this way?
When I’m leaving you, when I’m coming home
I’m lost for words to say.
And I know your faults and failures,
And the troubles that you’ve been through.
But it’s more about what happens now
And what were coming to.

And the echo from the green hills
Runs through her city streets,
And the sun that shines on England
Well it lifts the heart in me.
England, oh England
England, oh England

What is it about you, that took men into war?
Rows and rows of crosses: Who remembers why what for?
The corners of these foreign fields,
The dust in them concealed.
Out of sight but not out of mind,
Don’t you know that England feels?

And the echo from the green hills
Runs through her city streets,
The rain that falls on England
Well it washes care from me.

England, oh England
England, oh England

Don’t make this out a battle hymn or a song of victory.
It’s just a way to try to say what England means to me.
And our accents and our colours change

And the echo from the green hills
Runs through her city streets,
The rain that falls on England
Well it washes care from me.

England, oh England
England, oh England

And all the colours in between.
It’s a stillness in the evening.
It’s the heartbeat that I’m feeling.

And the echo from the green hills
Runs through her city streets,
The rain that falls on England
Well it washes care from me.

England, oh England
England, oh England

You have to pick the Chords:
(Only the strings you’ll hit while picking are written down, strings you don’t hit
are marked with a x)

Am x0x210
D 0xx230
D7 xxx010
G 5xx000
am11 xxx030
Em6 2xx005
F9 3xx010
G/F 3xx000
C x3x010
D6 x3x200
F+ 3xx100
Am x0x212
G 5xx005
Gm7 5xx004
G7 5xx003
F+7 x3x111
G/D x2x030
Em 2xx000
D x3x200
Dm 0xx053
Dm 0xx453
Dm 0xx353
Dm 0xx253
D 0xx234
A 2xx222

Intro: Am D Am D

The lights have gone dim, and the people are gone. And clown goes back into his caravan.
Hangs up his smile on a hook by the door And lets his ragged coat slip to the floor.
With the sound of the children’s [G/F]laughter Still ringing in his ears.
F+ Am D
Laughing ‘cause they’re happy, They laugh to hide their fears.
G Gm7 G7 Am
Clown loves the children For, like him, they fear.
F+7 G/D Em D G
The world does not exist tonight, And only the circus, Only the circus is real.
Dm Dm
As real as the elephants that trumpet in the ring. Real like the trapeze, see it swing.
Dm Dm
Real like the man who eats real fire, Real like the lady on the high wire.

La, la… D A D x2

But the people have gone, his identity gone. Clown peeps through he window of his caravan.
Clown puts on his coat and goes out the door. And the distant neon lights
They shine above the town. “It’s almost like a circus”, thinks clown.
Then half with fear And half with delight, Shivering, shaking.
Clown stands laughing, Clown stands laughing, Clown is laughing at the night.

1. I’ve written words that say I’m leaving, words express the pain,
old songs lose their meanings, but new ones they gain.
From changes that I’ve been through, and what I’m coming to,
you were my first song, and I still… [-] [-]+ (repeat chords of this line)

2. Sure I still get feelings to get back on the road,
and I still get leanings to forget the things I know.
About myself and changes, gone through and coming to,
and you were my first song and I still… [-] + [-](repeat chords of this line)

3. Do words express true meanings, I mean the words I’ve still to sing,
old loves lose their feelings, but new ones they gain.
The changes that I’ve been through, and new ones I’m coming to,
and you were my first song, and I still.[-]..[-]
You were my first song, and I still…[-][-]
Yes, you were my first song, and I still love you.

1. Me and my brother returned to the water,
I saw a pike that was two feet long.
Two small magicians, each with a jam jar
cast spells on the water with hazel twig wands.

2. Country boys catch tadpoles, dive into water,
made shy by their laughter, we wondered down stream.
And summer rolled o?er us with no complications,
sat thinking of Mama, sometimes in dreams.

3. Stand by the drawbridge waiting for barges,
waiting around for smiles from the man.
Lifting the bridge whilst watching the horses,
dragging the slow boats up the canl.

4. I do remember the times but no number,
after the day, but before evening comes.
Waiting for castles and kettles with roses,
painted on barges that sailed into the sun.