Thursday, June 28, 2007

Black Jack Rackham 2

I figured, rightly or wrongly, that sea chanteys might tend to be in the key of D. Also, if you electrified it, you could get a good D drone going that would ram it right along, so here's the chords after fifteen minutes work:
Black Jack Rackham
D
Black Jack Rackham, a bucccaneer captain
D
And vet'ran of many a boarding expedition,
G
Sighted the chase and came about smartly
A
As soon as he entered the Bucket o Blood.
D
A fine looking lass, he needed no glass
D
To admire her bowsprit an' the cut o her jib
G
He cruised up beside her, an' then crossed her hawser
A D
to bring the full weight of his broadside to bear.
[chorus]
D A
So here's to the barroom buccaneer, here's to the pub-stool pirate
G D
Here's to a tavern wench on my knee, and a cold pint of ale beside me.

Double-shot loaded, with Cruzan rum
He ordered another, and another again
Then his Jolly Roger he ran up the jackstaff
Prepared to board her and hefted his gaff.
[chorus]
A A/G# A/F# E D A A/G# A/F# E D (x2)
He said Hey ya ho, let's have a go! And yo ho ho, yeah blow the man down!
But she said No way Joe, I don't play for dough, and I'm not impressed by what ye've shown.
[chorus]
Black Jack Rackham, the buccaneer captain
and vet'ran of many a boarding expedition,
Gave up the chase and bore away sharply
To careen on the beach and repair his caulking.
[chorus]

2 comments:

Jeff said...

After a couple more sessions the chorus and bridge are the same, but the music for the verses is only a
D chord with a couple little riffs that I'm too lazy to tab alternating at the end of each line.
I really like the chorus.

Jeff said...

I also made a change in the lyrics of the bridge: instead of "I'm not impressed..." (even though impressed makes a nice nautical pun), I changed to "and holed hom between the water and wind." I'm also changing "don't play for dough" to "don't blow for dough."