C                         G
I was born in the shadow of the Fairfield crane
                                 C
Where the blast o' a freighter's horn
        G                     C
Was the very first sound that reached my ears
       F             G
On the morning I was born
                             F
I lay and I listened tae the shipyard sound
                    C
Coming out of the unknown
        G                      C
And was lulled to sleep by the mother tongue
     F            G
That was to be my own

[Instrumental]
C  G/B  F  G  x2

[Verse]
      C                  G
But before I grew tae be one year old
                   C
I heard the sirens scream
     G                   C
As a city watched in the blacked-out night
  F                     G
A wandering searchlight beam
                    F
And then at last I awoke and rose
                    C
Tae my first day of peace
        G                          C
For I'd learned that the battle to stay alive
    F               G
Was never going tae cease

[Instrumental]
C  G/B  F  G  x2

[Verse]
  C                         G
I sat and I listened tae my father tell
                         C
Of the days that he once knew
        G                    C
When ye either sweated for a measly wage
      F                 G
Or ye joined the parish queue
                     F
As times grew harder day by day
               C
Along the riverside
  G                C
I oftimes heard my mother say
        F                   G
"It was tears that made the Clyde"

[Instrumental]
C  G/B  F  G  x2

[Verse]
         C                      G
Now I've sat in the school frae nine tae four
                                 C
And I've dreamed of the world outside
          G                C
Where the riveters and the platers watch
      F                  G
Their ships slip tae the Clyde
                               F
I've served ma time behind the shipyard gates
                              C
And I've sometimes mourned my lot
       G                 C
But if any man tries tae mess me about
       F                    G
I will fight like my father fought