Dog Town

Em - Em - Em - Em


[Verse]
Em                            C                    Em
Up in Massachusetts there's a little spit of land
    G                                   F#m7             B7
The men who make the maps, yes they call the place Cape Anne
     Em                             C                       Em
The men who do the fishing call it Gloucester Harbor Sound
        C                        B7              Em
But the women left behind, they call the place Dogtown

     Em                               C                    Em
The men go out for whaling past the breakers and the fogs
      G                                    F#m7       B7
The women stay home waiting, they're protected by the dogs
   Em                            C                   Em
A tough old whaler woman who had seen three husbands drown
C                             B7                 Em
Polled the population and she named the place Dogtown

[Chorus}
                  G                           Em
There's all these grey faced women in their black widow's gowns
F                                     F#m7  B7
Living in this graveyard granite town
     G                                Em
You soon learn there's many more than one way to drown
             C7              B7         Em
That's while going to the dogs, here in Dogtown

{Verse 2}
And she speaks...
   Em                       C               Em
My father was a merchant all in the Boston Fife
       G                 F#m7           B7sus4   B7
When my husband came and asked him for my hand
     Em                              C                 Em
But little did I know then that a Gloucester Whaler's wife
C               B7                Em
Marries but the sea salt and the sand
   Em                        C7
He took me up to Dogtown the day I was a bride
    G                     F#m7              B
We had ten days together before he left my side
         Em                                  C7          Em
He's the first mate on a whaling ship, the keeper of the log
   C7                                    B7sus4    B7         Em
He said, "Farewell my darling, I'm gonna leave you    with my dog."

{Chorus 2)
           G                                  Em
And I have seen the splintered timbers of a hundred shattered hulls
            F                               F#m7                   B7
Known the silence of the granite and the screeching of the gulls
                 G                            Em
I've heard that crazy Widow Cather walk the harbor as she raves
          C7             B7            Em
At the endless rolling whisper of the waves
Em                             C           Em
Sitting by the fireside, the embers slowly die
   G                            F#m7            B
Is it a sign of weakness when a woman wants to cry
    Em                           C                  Em
The dog is closely watching, the fire glints in his eye


C                                 B7sus4   B7          Em
No use to go to sleep this early, no use       to even try
Em
My blood beats like a woman's, I've got a woman's breasts and thighs
Em
But where am I to offer them, to the ocean or the skies?
Em
Living with this silent dog all the moments of my life
                                   F#m7    B7         Em
He has been my only husband, am I a widow,    or his wife?

           Em
Yes it's a dog town
           Em
And it's a fog town
             Em
And there's nothing around
            G            F#m7           B7
'Cept the sea pounding granite ground
          Em              D           Em
And this black, midnight horror of a hound


     Em                               C                 Em
I'm standing on this craggy cliff, my eyes fixed on the sea
      G                                      F#m7         B7
Six months past when his ship was due, I'm a widow-to-be
     Em                                C            Em
For liking this half-living with the lonely and the fog
               C                         B7                Em
You need the bastard of the mating of a woman and a dog

             G                                Em
And I have seen the splintered timbers of a hundred shattered hulls
           F                                F#m7            B7
Known the silence of the granite and the screeching of the gulls
                 G                            Em
I've heard that crazy Widow Cather walk the harbor as she raves
       C7                B7           Em        Em - Em - Em...
At the endless rolling whisper of the waves