Manuscript Chords by Al Stewart

_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Prince Louis Battenberg is [A] burning, the Admiralty [G] lights down low,
_ _ [D] _
Silently sifting through [A] papers, _ sealed with a [G] crown.
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] Admiral Lord Fisher [A] is writing to Churchill, _ [G] calling for _ [D] more dreadnoughts,
The houses in Hackney were all falling [G] _ _
down. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ And my grandmother sits _ [A] on the beach in the days before the war,
_ _ _ [Am] Young girl writing her diary, _ _ _ _ _ while time [G] seems to _ force,
_ _ [Bb] Watching the waves as they come one by one to die on [Dm] the _ shore. _
_ _ _ _ _
Kissing [Bb] the _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _
[A] beach. _ _ _ _
_ [D] Ah, _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
the lights of St.
Petersburg [A] come on as usual,
_ [G] Although the air _ [D] seems charged with a strangeness of late,
Yet there's nothing [G] to touch. _ _
_ _ _ _ _
[Ab] And [D] the Tsar in his great winter [A] palace has called [G] for the foreign _ news,
[D] An archduke was shot [A] down in Bosnia, but [G] nothing much. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
And my grandmother sits [A] by the mirror in the days [D] before the war, _ _
_ [Dm] _ Smiling a secret smile _ _ _ _ _ _ as she goes to [G] the door, _ _
[Gm] And the young [Bb] man rides off in his carriage _ homeward [Dm] once _ more, _
_ _ And the sun sets [Bb] _ _ gently. _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] Ah, _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
the day we decided [Am] to drive down to Worthing,
[G] It rained and rained, _ _ giving us only [A] a minute to stand by [G] the sea. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] Uncrunching my way through [Am] the shingles, it seemed [G] there was nothing changed, _
[D] Though the jetty was maybe [A] more scarred than I'd known it [G] to _ _ _ be. _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
And Mandy and I stood [A] and stared at the _ [D] overcast sky, _ _
[Dm] Where ten years ago [Am] _ _ _ _
we had stood, my grandfather and [G] _ I, _ _
_ _ _ _ _
[Bb] And we'd still rushed in as they had the year that he [Dm] _ died. _ _
_ _ And it [Bb] seemed that my lifetime was shrunken and lost in the [Dm] tide,
_ _ As it rose and fell on the [Bb] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
side.
_ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ [Eb] Ah, _
_ _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
the _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ day _ we decided to drive down to Worthing,
It [Am] rained and rained, giving _ _ us only a minute _ _ to stand by the sea. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [N] _