Fmaj7                                  G7
Billy was born within sight of the shipyard
      Fmaj7                G7
first son of a riveter's son
    Fmaj7                     G7
and Billy was raised as the ship grew a shadow
    Fmaj7                          G7              Fmaj7   G7
her great hull would blot out the light of the sun.

    Fmaj7                       G7
And six days a week he would watch his poor father
    Fmaj7                  G7
a working man live like a slave
       Fmaj7                      G7
he'd drink every night and he'd dream of a future
     Fmaj7                 G7
of money he never would save.

     Cm7                       Ab
And Billy would cry when he thought of the future.

Fmaj7                      G7
Soon came a day when the bottle was broken
       Fmaj7                        G7
they launched a great ship out to sea
Fmaj7                      G7
he felt he'd been left on a desolate shore
      Fmaj7                 G7
to a future he desperately wanted to flee.

Cm7                          Ab
What else was there for a riveter's son,
       Bb
a new ship to be built, new work to be done.

     F          Bb                       Dm
One day, he dreamed of the ship in the world
                               F
it would carry his father and he
       Bb                        Gm7
to a place they would never be found
F     Gm        C7             Fmaj7
to a place far away from this town.

Fmaj7                           G7
Trapped in the cage of the skeleton ship
        Fmaj7                G7
all the workmen suspended like flies
Fmaj7                     G7
caught in the flare of acetylene light
  Fmaj7                       G7
a working man works till the industry dies.

     Cm7                       Ab
And Billy would cry when he thought of the future.

Fmaj7                       G7
Then what they call an industrial accident
          Fmaj7              G7
crushed those it couldn't forgive
        Fmaj7                 G7
they brought Billy's father back home in an ambulance
     Fmaj7                           G7
a brass watch, a cheque, maybe three weeks to live.

Cm7                          Ab
And what else was there for a riveter's son,
       Bb
a new ship to be built, new work to be done.

     F         Bb                       Dm
That night, he dreamed of the ship in the world
                               F
it would carry his father and he
       Bb                        Gm7
to a place they could never be found,
F     Gm        C7             F
to a place far away from this town.

Bb                       Gm7
A Newcastle ship without coals,
           Bb          C7         Fmaj7
they would sail to the island of souls...