C              G
He was a sailor
D                           Em
Swarthy lean and proud
              C                                  G
He could take a schooner through a big sea swell
Am                                D
Aloof in the mainland crowd

C                             G
She loved his quiet laughter
           D                             Em
Like a boy he'd shrug and grin
C                                    G
Beach stretched wide at Port Mackay
       Am                                 D
With dreams upon the wind

C                   G             D            Em
He wore her name in a rose tattoo
        C                     G             Am
Long weekends of gins and lime

C                  G                   D          Em
She lived in Cairns made plans to move
C               G              Am
Checkout girl part-time
C                   G                   D        Em  
And rumour said there's a boom ahead
              C        G          Am
You can make your future here
                            Em
By the Gladstone pier

C                                   G
A two roomed fibro shelter
           D                                 Em
Empty hopes, the damp, the flies          
C                          G
Prices hiked her face grew tight
       Am                   D
And conversation died

               C                    G                             D               Em
And the foreman at the smelter said you're much too old
           C                 G             Am
Try the cane fields furthers north
              C         G                      D              Em
And the clerk at the market said we don't buy trouble
              C         G            Am
There's a strike down at the port

            C           G             D            Em
Then a six-day shift in a filthy pit
      C       G             Am
The drag lines gouging coal
       C               G                     D               Em
The black dust gnaws at your lungs and pores
         C        G           Am
And anger rots your soul
               C                       G                      D               Em
And the queue round the block waits for you to drop
              C       G            Am
Can you take it for another year
                            Em
By the Gladstone Pier

         C                          G
Every Sunday he'd walk alone
             D                                 Em
Casting pebbles at the passing waves
C                        G
Plunge in brine cleanse his pride
   Am             D
A stronger man remains

C                                       G
The crunch of shale and distant sails
D                          Em
Ached within his bones
        C                       G
And ships upon the tide
Am                           D
Bound for ports unknown

C                              G
Soon he drank for comfort
                D                            Em
She grew bitter in the weeks between
       C                            G
The nights of beer and hollow cheer
       Am                   D
And love became routine
 
 C                                      G
They fought, she left him crying
          D                      Em
Angry words in a last café
     C                          G
In desperation on a lonely night
                    Am                     D
She took the bus to Cairns next day

       C                G             D              Em
And Gladstone couples break that way
           C                      G            Am
Mutual blame and no regrets
       C                G              D              Em
And boomtown blues just fade to grey
         C              G              Am     
And all that's left are debts she cried:
 C                G              D            Em
"I've got to leave this dirty old town
        C              G       Am
The rattle of broken men
       C                    G              D             Em
And break these chains and wash the pain
        C       G         Am
And put to sea again
C                      G                 D                   Em
Drained all my passion my anger and my fears
         C                      G         Am
And sank them in a flagon
                           Em
Under Gladstone pier"

C                                                         G
She saw him through the Greyhound window
           D                                E
As the dawn glowed on the chrome
C                                           G
Standing by the pier under sullen skies
Am                      D
Sea winds calling home

C                              G
From surfers up to Townsville
               D                     Em
Past the high-rise colonies
C                               G
Fast food, cheap hotels
                Am                                  D
Two more boom-town refugees