Gladstone Pier

	  		C              G 
He was a sailor 
D                           Em 
Swarthy lean and proud 
              C                                  G 
He could take a schooner through a big sea swell 
Am                                D 
Aloof in the mainland crowd 

C                             G 
She loved his quiet laughter 
           D                             Em 
Like a boy he'd shrug and grin 
C                                    G 
Beach stretched wide at Port Mackay 
       Am                                 D 
With dreams upon the wind 

C                   G             D            Em 
He wore her name in a rose tattoo 
        C                     G             Am 
Long weekends of gins and lime 

C                  G                   D          Em 
She lived in Cairns made plans to move 
C               G              Am 
Checkout girl part-time 
C                   G                   D        Em   
And rumour said there's a boom ahead 
              C        G          Am 
You can make your future here 
                            Em 
By the Gladstone pier 

C                                   G 
A two roomed five row shelter 
           D                                 Em 
Empty hopes, the damp, the flies           
C                          G 
Prices hiked her face grew tight 
       Am                   D 
And conversation died 

               C                    G                             D               Em 
And the foreman at the smelter said you're much too old 
           C                 G             Am 
Try the cane fields furthers north 
              C         G                      D              Em 
And the clerk at the market said we don't buy trouble 
              C         G            Am 
There's a strike down at the port 

            C           G             D            Em 
Then a six-day shift in a filthy pit 
      C       G             Am 
The drag lines gouging coal 
       C               G                     D               Em 
The black dust gnaws at your lungs and pores 
         C        G           Am 
And anger rots your soul 
               C                       G                      D               Em 
And the queue round the block waits for you to drop 
              C       G            Am 
Can you take it for another year 
                            Em 
By the Gladstone Pier 

         C                          G 
Every Sunday he'd walk alone 
             D                                 Em 
Casting pebbles at the passing waves 
C                        G 
Plunge in brine cleanse his pride 
   Am             D 
A stronger man remains 

C                                       G 
The crunch of shale and distant sails 
D                          Em 
Ached within his bones 
        C                       G 
And ships upon the tide 
Am                           D 
Bound for ports unknown 

C                              G 
Soon he drank for comfort 
                D                            Em 
She grew bitter in the weeks between 
       C                            G 
The nights of beer and hollow cheer 
       Am                   D 
And love became routine 
  
 C                                      G 
They fought, she left him crying 
          D                      Em 
Angry words in a last café 
     C                          G 
In desperation on a lonely night 
                    Am                     D 
She took the bus to Cairns next day 

       C                G             D              Em 
And Gladstone couples break that way 
           C                      G            Am 
Mutual blame and no regrets 
       C                G              D              Em 
And boomtown blues just fade to grey 
         C              G              Am      
And all that's left are debts she cried: 
 C                G              D            Em 
"I've got to leave this dirty old town 
        C              G       Am 
The rattle of broken men 
       C                    G              D             Em 
And break these chains and wash the pain 
        C       G         Am 
And put to sea again 
C                      G                 D                   Em 
Drained all my passion my anger and my fears 
         C                      G         Am 
And sank them in a flagon 
                           Em 
Under Gladstone pier" 

C                                                         G 
She saw him through the Greyhound window 
           D                                E 
As the dawn glowed on the chrome 
C                                           G 
Standing by the pier under sullen skies 
Am                      D 
Sea winds calling home 

C                              G 
From surfers up to Townsville 
               D                     Em 
Past the high-rise colonies 
C                               G 
Fast food, cheap hotels 
                Am                                  D 
Two more boom-town refugees