The Soul Cages

Gm Bb C Gm F C
Gm Bb C Gm F C

[Verse]
Gm                             Bb               C
The boy child is locked in the fisherman's yard
Gm                                        Bb   C
There's a bloodless moon where the oceans die
Gm                          Bb               C
A shoal of night stars hang fire in the nets
         Gm                     Bb        C
And the chaos of cages where the crayfish lie
Gm                      Bb               C
Where is the fisherman, where is the goat,
Gm                         Bb         C
Where is the keeper in his carrion coat?
   Gm                        Bb          C
Eclipse on the moon when the dark bird flies
Gm                          Bb        C
Where is the child with his father's eyes?

C Bb

[Verse]
Gm                              Bb C F Gm
He's the king of the ninth world
Gm                                 Bb C F Gm
The twisted son of the fog bells' toll
Gm                           Bb C F  Gm
In each and every lobster cage,      a tortured human soul

[Pre-Chorus]
Bb                         Bbsus4
These are the souls of the broken factories
Bb                        Bbsus4
The subject slaves of the broken crown
Bb                     Bbsus4
The dead accounting of old guilty promises
Bb                         C
These are the souls of the broken town

[Chorus]
Gm            Bb        C
These are the soul cages
Gm            F         C
These are the soul cages
Gm            Bb        C
These are the soul cages
Gm            Bb        C
These are the soul cages

[Instrumental]
Am C Bb
Am C Bb

[Verse]
Am                             C      D G
'I have a wager,' the brave child spoke
Am                             C               D   G
The fisherman laughed though disturbed at the joke
Am                             C               D    G
'You will drink what I drink  But you must equal me,
Am                                   G               D
And if the drink leaves me standing, A soul shall go free'
Am                          C       D
'I have here a cask of most magical wine
Am                           C             D
A vintage that blessed every ship in the line
Am                  C             D
It's wrung from the blood of the sailors who died
Am                    G          D
Young white bodies adrift in the tide'
Am                           C             D
'And what's in it for me, my pretty young thing?
Am                            C          D
Why should I whistle when the caged bird sings?
Am                           C              D
If you lose a wager with the king of the sea
Am                                   G              D
You'll spend the rest of forever in the cage with me'

[Chorus]
Am            C         D
These are the soul cages
Am            C         D
These are the soul cages
Am            C         D
These are the soul cages
Am            C         D
These are the soul cages

[Verse]
Am                        C         D
A body lies open in the fisherman's yard like
Am            C         D
The side of a ship where the iceberg rips
Am            C                D
One less soul in the soul cages
Am                     G         D
One last curse on the fisherman's lips

[Chorus]
Am            C         D
These are the soul cages
Am            C         D
These are the soul cages
Am            C         D
These are the soul cages
Am            C         D
These are the soul cages
Am            C         D
These are the soul cages

[Post-Chorus]
Dmaj7                          A
And he dreamed of a ship on the sea
                               Dmaj7
That would carry his father and he
Dmaj7                          F#m
To a place they could never be found
                               E7sus4
To a place far away from this town
                          Bm7
A Newcastle ship without coals
                                 F#m
They would sail to the island of souls

F#m  B

[Chorus Outro]
F#m           A         B
These are the soul cages
F#m           A         B
These are the soul cages
F#m           A         B
These are the soul cages
F#m           A         B
These are the soul cages