G         Am            D          Em
Where Patterson Creek's muddy waters run down
         C       G             Am         D
Past the penny arcades, by the harbour downtown,
Em          Am          D           Em
All the old Turtlebacks rust in the rain
           C          D            G
Like they never will leave there again.
    G                Am          D            Em
But leave there they will in the hours before dawn,
     C          G           Am            D
Slip out in the darkness without word or song;
      Em             Am            D               Em
For a few more years yet they will work while they can
    C         D        G
To catch tiny fish for Japan.

   D                            C          G
No white fish or trout here, we leave them alone.
      C              G          Am       D
The inspectors raise hell if we take any home.
D                      C             G
What kind of fisherman can't eat his catch
   Em             A7        D
Or call what he's taken his own?

        G                 Am                  D         Em
But the plant works three shifts now. There's plenty of pay.
        C         G            Am           D
We ship seventeen tons of this garbage each day.
      Em          Am               D      Em
If we want to eat fish, then we'll open a can,
    C          D        G
And catch tiny fish for Japan.

       D                  C            G
In the Norfolk Hotel over far too much beer,
    C           G              Am        D
The old guys remember when the water ran clear.
   D                          C          G
No poisons with names that we can't understand
    Em      A7       D
And no tiny fish for Japan

       G        Am             D          Em
So the days run together. Each one is the same.
         C             G             Am       D
And it's good that the smelt have no lovelier name.
         Em         Am             D             Em
For it's all just a job now, we'll work while we can,
   C          D        G
To catch tiny fish for Japan.
          C          D        G
And we'll catch tiny fish for Japan.