I Was An Oak Tree

Intro 
F    C    G       Am G 
F    C    G       Am G 
F    C    G       Am G F   G 


         F 
I was an oak tree. 
         C                 G    F 
I took a thousand years to grow, 
              C                 G 
and I've seen kingdoms come and go. 
              F              C               G    Am G 
I've seen the losers turn to lords and back again. 
           F                C                 G     Am G 
I held the rebels when they hung them from my limbs. 
     F              C                         G 
When men of fortune cast their futures on the sea, 
       Am        G        F  G 
that's when they came for me. 


            F 
And I was a slave ship, 
          C               G     F 
under the standard of the cross, 
       C         G 
a hallelujah holocaust. 
              F              C                 G     Am G 
And half were dead before we reached the other shore, 
        F             C              G    Am G 
and the captain never saw the coming storm 
     F                C                G 
that swept around the cape and took us by surprise, 
    Am   G        F     G 
and only eight survived. 


        F                    C                G     F 
I was a camp fire, a pile of driftwood in the sand. 
             C                 G 
The only comfort in this land. 
         F               C                G     Am G 
8 hungry sailors roasted acorns that they found, 
    F                       C                    G    Am G 
and left me burning as they stumbled towards the sound 
     F                   C             G 
of a church bell ringing out above the ocean's wind, 
    Am    G     F    G 
and I was born again. 

F             C                   G    F 
And I am an oak tree, out along the wild cape fear, 
             C               G 
and there is talk of freedom here. 
             F                C             G   Am G 
Where is the kingdom that was here before I came, 
               F               C               G     Am G 
where have the people gone who only left their names. 
  F            C             G 
A revolution's just a circle after all, 
    Am    G       F    G 
and every kingdom falls. 

        F                       C                 G    F 
I am an oak tree, if it takes a thousand years to grow, 
         C                 G  F 
I'll see kingdoms come and go, 
         C                    G 
I'll see kingdoms come and go. 

Outro 
F    C    G    Am G 
F    C    G    Am G 
F    C    G    Am G F    G