So Far From The Clyde

Am

They had a last supper

The day of the Beaching

She's a dead ship sailing

Em Em

Skeleton Crew

The galley is empty

The stove pots are cooling

With what's left of the stew

Am

The time is approaching

The captain moves over

The hangman steps in

Em Em

To do what he's paid for

With the wind down the tide

She goes proud ahead steaming

And he drives her hard into the shore

So far from the Clyde

Dm Dm

Together we ride

We did ride

Am

As if to a wave

From her bows to her rudder

Bravely she rises to meet with the land

Under their feet they all feel her keel shatter

The shallow see washes their hands

Am

Later the captain

Shakes hands with the hangman

And climbs slowly down

Em Em

To the oily wet ground

Goes 'bout to the car that has come here to take him

To the graveyard and back to the town

So far from the Clyde

Dm Dm

Together we ride

We did ride

Am

They pull out her cables

And hack off her hatches

Too poor to be wasteful with pity or time

They swarm on her carcass with torches and axes

Like a whale on the bloody shoreline

Am

Stripped of her pillars

Her stays and her stantions

When there's only her bones on the wet poison land

Steel ropes will drag her with winches and engines

'Til it's only a stain on the sand

So far from the Clyde

Dm Dm

Together we ride

We did ride

So far from the Clyde

Dm Dm

Together we ride

We did ride