One Song at a Time

My whistle under the archways

Still echoes down the street

All the way back to Deptford days

Nights down by The Creek

Notes as big as river boats

Still echoing through the clubs

With the horns of the trains

Down the old back lanes

And the lights of the corner pubs

In a taproom lined with mirrors

There's a man there at the bar

Reminds you of somebody

He says I know who you are

He's right, I know I could be him

But anyway who is who?

You could be looking at

What he's looking at

And he's looking at you

And I'll be out of this place

And down the road wherever

There but for the grace, etcetera

I'll see you later but it's 1979

And I'm picking my way out of here

One song at a time

The slaving ports of plunder

Used to stink to heaven on high

Companions of honour

Always were in short supply

The Bristol ships and Liverpool's

On every tide they came

The times they may have changed, my friend

Some people stay the same

And I'll be out of this place

And down the road wherever

There but for the grace, etcetera

I'll see you later but it's 1879

And I'm picking my way out of here

One song at a time

A grinning mogul greets the crowd

At Execution Dock

All come to see three mutineers

Turned off at twelve o'clock

The shyster takes a ringside seat

As they're bringing them from the jail

And twenty thousand tickets

Sold online on premium sale

So if you need to reach me

You can leave word at The Pig

I have no wish to stay around

To watch that Newgate jig

Or any more poor old fakers

Trying to dance in my old shoes

I'll be gone over the ocean

With the transatlantic blues

And I'll be out of this place

And down the road wherever

There but for the grace, etcetera

I'll see you later somewhere down the line

I'll be picking my way out of here

One song at a time