The Last Bird To Sing Chords by Ewan Mclennan

[E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _
[E] _ As the waning path _
[B] takes [E] me down,
In the dust where the air grows still, _ _
Past [C#m] the shattered cells to where the broken [A] bricks
[E] Lie tossed at the foot of the hill,
_ _ To the gentle hum [B] of the _ [E] engine's fire,
And the cry of the birds through the air,
_ _ With the [B] falling grace [C#m] of the light [A] on my face,
[E] To the city I _ vacantly stare,
_ _ _ _ Down at these _ [A] hands that [E] hang by my side,
To [A] the times they have [E] twisted and _ bowed,
For the good half they've done, the frozen [B] task's been [A] run,
[E] _
To lie still and idle [B] now, _
As [Em] _ [B] a boy I would sit here and whistle [E] my tune,
[A] And watch the world [E] roll on by, _
In the heat [B] of the red [C#m] brick factories [A] roar,
[E] The smoke spun soft in the sky, _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [B] _ _ [E] _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
My boy who dream in the wind as I grew,
No more [A] watching the race [E] from _ afar,
_ [A] With steel toe [E] boots and a coarse [A] boiler suit,
[E] I lied amidst the _ [B] furnace's _ scars,
[Em] _ I learned my trade, how I listened and watched,
I [A] worked as hard as [E] hard can be, _
But with passing [B] years I [E] grew [A] proud, we hoped,
[E] Of a future that was never to be, _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ [G#m] _
_ [E] _ _ [A] _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Late in the day [B] as the autumn [E] turned pale,
[B] A [E] figure watched us work from the _ door, _
[C#m] Into burning air [E] his words spoke clear,
In a haze our jobs were [B] no _ more,
_ [E]
I woke each morning, [B] day stretched [Em] into night,
[C#m] And I lurched through a hollow [E] _ routine,
_ _ In the queues [B] each week where [C#m] _ [A] companions had stand,
[E] But our _ fortunes had turned in our _ dreams,
For two sons and a daughter [A] we had to [E] _
provide,
My [A] wife worked [E] long into the night,
_ _ To escape the stale air [F#m] of a room with four [A] [E] walls,
I skimmed stones at the quarry [B] to light,
_ _ _ [E] In the years that followed [B] things picked up [E] and shone,
And I hustled a job where I could, _ _
_ _ [B] Reskilled and retooled [C#m] with a home of [A] our own,
[E] In a strange shifting world we were stood, _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ [E] _
_ _ [A] _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
As time wore on our children grew tall,
And [A] I thought them [E] all that I'd learned,
_ But [A] in and out of trouble [E] the same as [A] their dad,
[E] They're in streets dodging cops at [B] Pike's town,
_ _ [E] _ As some strangers see [B] we've carved [E] our own way,
[A] In a world that still lists [E] and turns, _ _
But once again there's [B] no work [C#m] for the young in [A] this town,
[E] And the queues for me near that still burn,
_ [B] _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ [C#] _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ [E] _ _ [A] _
[E] _ _ _ _ [C#m] _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _ _
_ [Em] _ [E] With a dusk tale said as [B] the evening [Em] light ebbs,
[A] My son walks off into [E] the night, _
With only dull [B] flapping wings of the [C#m] last bird that sings,
[E] He skimmed stones at the quarry to light. _ _ _ _
[B] _ [E] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ [C#m] _
_ _ _ [B] _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ [A] _ _ [C#m] _ _ _ _ [B] _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ [A] _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ [B] _ _ [E] _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ [C#m] _ _ _ [B] _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
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_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _