Old Admirals

Intro
D

Verse 1
      G               D            
I can well recall the first time I 
C
ever put to sea
    G             D        F     
Was on the old Calcutta in 
         A
eighteen fifty-three
      G             D             
I was just a lad of fourteen years
   C             A
 a midshipman to be
   D              Am
To make my way in sailing ships
       G          D A Bm A G D
Of the royal navy

Verse 2
       G               D          
By the time that I was twenty-one 
      C
I had sailed the world around
G                       D        
Weathered storms in the China 
           F                A
seas with the hatches battened down
    G              D              
And made my way by starlight off 
   C                A
the coast of Newfoundland
    D                 Am
And dined on beer and herrings
          G               D A Bm 
While the waves blew all around
A G D


Bridge 1
Bm
I live in retirement now
    E                          
And through my window comes the 
          Em
sound of seagulls
                   Bm
And sets my mind remembering
Continúa después del anuncio
The evening stars like memories sail
 E
 far beyond the distant trees
    Em                         Bm
Way out across the open seas I hear 
them sing

Verse 3
       G                 D        
Oh the wooden ships they turned to
              C
 iron and the iron ships to steel
    G                     D    
And shed their sails like autumn 
                  F              A
leaves with the turning of the wheel
    G           D                  
And I was given captain's rank and 
C               A
soon took under me
    D                  Am
The proudest ship that ever sailed
    G                D A Bm A G D
For queen and country

Verse 4
       G             D         
Ah the old queen she passed away 
           C
with the new born century
    G             D       F      
And I received my calling up to 
          A
the admiralty
    G                     D       
The sands ran through the 
       C             A
hourglass each day more rapidly
      D                   Am
As we watched the growing of the 
fleets
   G          D A Bm A G D
Of High Germany

Bridge 2
Bm
So at last the Great War blazed

I waited with the passing days
    E                            
The call to arms that never came 
Em
writing letters
  Bm                              
I may be old now in your eyes but 
E
all my years have made me wise
    Em                             
You don't see where the danger lies
    A
 so call me back
A
Call me back

Verse 5
G              D                 
But the war it ran it's course 
         C
they could find no use for me
    G             D         
And I live in the country now 
       C              A
grandchildren on my knee
    G                  D      
And sometimes think in all this 
            C                A
world the saddest thing to be
    D            Am
Old admirals who feel the wind
    G             D A Bm A G D
And never put to sea

Verse 6
    G                  D       
Now just like you I've sailed my 
              C
dreams like ships across the sea
    G                 D           
And some of them have come on 
      C              A
rocks and some faced mutiny
    G                   D         
And when they're sunken one by one
      C              A
 I'll join that company
    D            Am
Old admirals who feel the wind
    G             D A Bm A G Bm
And never put to sea
 A A D