Tom: C
C G
The sheets were frozen hard, and they cut the naked hand;
C F
The decks were like a slide, where a seaman scarce could stand;
Am C
The wind was a nor'wester, blowing squally off the sea;
Am G
And cliffs and spouting breakers were the only things a-lee
[Verse]
C G
They heard the surf a-roaring before the break of day;
C F
But 'twas only with the peep of light we saw how ill we lay
Am C
We tumbled every hand on deck instanter, with a shout
Am G
And we gave her the maintops'l, and stood by to go about
[Verse]
C G
All day we tacked and tacked between the South Head and the North;
C F
All day we hauled the frozen sheets, and got no further forth;
Am C
All day as cold as charity, in bitter pain and dread
Am G
For very life and nature we tacked from head to head
[Verse]
C G
We gave the South a wider berth, for there the tide-race roared;
C F
But every tack we made we brought the North Head close aboard:
Am C
We saw the cliffs and houses, and the breakers running high
Am G
And the coastguard in his garden, with his glass against his eye
[Verse]
C G
The frost was on the village roofs as white as ocean foam;
C F
The good red fires were burning bright in every 'long-shore home;
Am C
The windows sparkled clear, and the chimneys volleyed out;
Am G
And I vow we sniffed the victuals as the vessel went about
[Verse]
C G
The bells upon the church were rung with a mighty jovial cheer;
C F
For it's just that I should tell you how, of all days in the year,
Am C
This day of our adversity was blessed Christmas morn
Am G
And the house above the coastguard's was the house where I was born
[Verse]
C G
O well I saw the pleasant room, the pleasant faces there
C F
My mother's silver spectacles, my father's silver hair;
Am C
And well I saw the firelight, like a flight of homely elves
Am G
Go dancing round the china-plates that stand upon the shelves
[Verse]
C G
And well I knew the talk they had, the talk that was of me
C F
Of the shadow on the household and the son that went to sea;
Am C
And O the wicked fool I seemed, in every kind of way
Am G
To be here and hauling frozen ropes on blessed Christmas Day
[Verse]
C G
They lit the high sea-light, and the dark began to fall
C F
"All hands to loose topgallant sails," I heard the captain call
Am C
"By Lord, she'll never stand it," our first mate Jackson, cried
Am G
"It's one way or the other, Mr. Jackson," he replied
[Verse]
C G
She staggered to her bearings, but the sails were new and good
C F
And the ship smelt up to windward just as though she understood
Am C
As the winter's day was ending, in the entry of the night
Am G
We cleared the weary headland, and passed below the light
[Verse]
C G
And they heaved a mighty breath, every soul on board but me
C F
As they saw her nose again pointing handsome out to sea;
Am C
But all that I could think of, in the darkness and the cold
Am G
Was just that I was leaving home and my folks were growing old
