One song at a time    (video)

 

    Am - F - C - F      - F - Em - Am (4x)

 

             Am                     F                    C                             F

1. My whistle under the archways still echoes down the street,

      F                             Em                        Am

    all the way back to Deptford, days and nights down by the creek.

      Am                    F                     C                                F

    Notes as big as river boats still echoing through the clubs,

                    F                                        Em

    with the horns of the trains down the old back lanes,

                  Am

    and the lights of the corner pubs

 

            Am                          F                          C                       F

2. In a taproom lined with mirrors there’s a man there at the bar,

          F                           Em                      Am 

    reminds you of somebody, he says, I know who you are.

             Am                   F                         C                        F 

    He’s right, I know I could be him, but anyway, who is who ?

F                                           Em                      - Am

    you could be looking at what he’s looking at,   and he’s looking at you.

 

                  G                               G7                          C

And I’ll be out of this place and down the road, wherever,

G                                            C

    there but for the grace, etcetera.

                   F                       C   - F

I’ll see you later, but it’s 1979,

               C                     Bb               Am

and I’m picking my way out of here, one song at a time.

 

+  F - C - F - C - G - Em - F - C     -  F - C - F - C - G - Am

 

             Am                     F                       C                           F

3. The slaving ports of plunder used to stink to heaven on high,

             F                   Em              Am

    companions of honour always were in short supply.

              Am                     F                      C                       F

    The Bristol ships and Liverpool’s, on every tide they came,

            F                               Em

    the times they may have changed, my friend,

                Am 

    some people stay the same.            +  CHORUS

 

+  F - C - F - C - G - Em - F - C     -  F - C - F - C - G - Am

 

         Am                      F                         C                 F

4. A grinning mogul greets the crowd at Execution Dock,

            F                          Em                    Am 

    all come to see three mutineers turned off at twelve o’clock.

              Am                  F

    The shyster takes a ringside seat,

                       C                                 F

    as they’re bringing them from the jail,

F                                     Em                Am

    and twenty thousand tickets sold online on premium sale.

 

         Am                     F                           C                          F

5. So if you need to reach me, you can leave word at The Pig,

        F                      Em                   Am

    I have no wish to stay around to watch that Newgate jig.

          Am                         F                        C                         F

    Or any more poor old fakers trying to dance in my old shoes,

                F                  Em                    Am

    I’ll be gone over the ocean with the transatlantic blues.

 

                  G                               G7                          C

And I’ll be out of this place and down the road, wherever,

G                                            C

    there but for the grace, etcetera.

                   F                                         C   - F

I’ll see you later, somewhere down the line,

           C                      Bb              Am

I’ll be picking my way out of here, one song at a time.

 

 

+  F - C - F - C - G - Em - F - C     -  F - C - F - C - G - Am (4x) …

 

    (Mark Knopfler)