VdGG - A Plague Of Lighthouse-Keepers (tabs and chords)
(Eyewitness)
Intro (x4)
Dm
e ----------------|
b ----------6-----|
g ----------7-----|
d ----------7-----|
a --5-------------|
e ----------------|
Verse chords (x2)
Dm Dm C C Dm Dm
e ------------------------------------------------|
b ------6-------6-------5-------5-------6-------6-|
g ------7-------7-------5-------5-------7-------7-|
d ------7-------7-------5-------5-------7-------7-|
a --5-------5-------3-------3-------5-------5-----|
e ------------------------------------------------|
Verse 1 (Vocal melody)
Still wait ing for my sav-iour, storms tear me limb from limb
e ------------------------------------------------------|
b ------------------------------------------------------|
g ------------------------------------------------------|
d ----------7---5---3---2-----------------7---5---3---2-|
a --5---8-------------------3---3/5---8-----------------|
e ------------------------------------------------------|
my fing ers feel like seaweed. I'm so far out I'm too far in.
e ---------------------------------------------------------|
b ---------------------------------------------------------|
g ---------------------------------------------------------|
d ------5---3---2---2---------------5---3---2---2----------|
a --3-------------------3-------3-------------------3--3/5-|
e ---------------------------------------------------------|
Dm (x2)
e ----------------|
b ----------6-----|
g ----------7-----|
d ----------7-----|
a --5-------------|
e ----------------|
Dm
I am a lonely man, my solitude is true,
C Dm
my eyes have borne stark witness and now my nights are numbered, too.
Dm (x2)
e ----------------|
b ----------6-----|
g ----------7-----|
d ----------7-----|
a --5-------------|
e ----------------|
C Am Bm
I've seen the smiles on dead hands,
Em G Am
the stars shine, but they're not for me.
Verse 2(organ variation)
e -------------------------------------------------------------|
b -------------------------------------------------------------|
g -------------------------------------------------------------|
d ----------7---5---3h5p3p2-----------------7---5---3h5p3--2---|
a --5---8-------------------3---3/5---8----------------------3-|
e -------------------------------------------------------------|
e ---------------------------------------------------------|
b ---------------------------------------------------------|
g ---------------------------------------------------------|
d ------5---3---2---2---------------5---3---2---2----------|
a --3-------------------3-------3-------------------3--3/5-|
e ---------------------------------------------------------|
Dm
I prophesy disaster and then I count the cost...
C Dm
I shine but, shining, dying, I know that I am almost lost.
Dm
On the table lies blank paper and my tower is built on stone;
C Dm
I only have blunt scissors, I only have the bluntest home.
C Am Bm
I've been the witness and the seal of death
Em G Am
lingers in the molten wax that is my head.
Dm
When you see the skeletons
Bb
of sailing-ship spars sinking low
Ab
You'll begin to wonder if the points of all the ancients myths
G Dm
are solemnly directed straight at you...
(Jackson Sax psychedelic)
e ---------------------------------------------------------------|
b ---------------------------------------------------------------|
g ---------------------------------------------------------------|
d ---------------------------------------------------------------|
a -(3)-----------------------------------------------------------|
e -------/6-------/8-------/6-------/8---\6-------/8---\6--------|
Banton Organ psychedelics (your guess is as good as mine)
Verse 3
Dm
No time now for contrition, the time for that's long past,
C Dm
the walls are thin as tissue and if I talk I'll crack the glass.
C Am Bm
So I only think on how it might have been,
Em G Am
locked in silent monologue, in silent scream.
Dm
I am much too tired to speak
Bb
and as the waves crash on the bleak
Ab
stones of the tower I start to freak
G Dm
and find that I am overcome....
(S.H.M.)
(x12) G
e -------------|---------------------------------------------------------------|
b -------------|---------------------------------------------------------------|
g -------------|---------------------------------------------------------------|
d -------------|--------5-----3-h-5----3\2-(3)/5-------------------------------|
a ---3p0---5p0-|---------------------------------------------------------------|
e -3-----3-----|-/3------------------------------------------------------------|
G
"Unreal, unreal" ghost helmsmen scream and fall in through the sky,
e ---------------------------------------------------------------|
b ---------------------------------------------------------------|
g ---------------------------------------------------------------|
d --------5-----3-h-5----3\2-(3)/5-------------------------------|
a ---------------------------------------------------------------|
e -/3------------------------------------------------------------|
G
not breaking through my seagull shrieks - no breaks until I die.
e ---------------------------------------------------------------|
b ---------------------------------------------------------------|
g ---------------------------------------------------------------|
d --------5-----3-h-5----3\2-(3)/5-------------------------------|
a ---------------------------------------------------------------|
e -/3------------------------------------------------------------|
Am
The spectres scratch on window-slits,
Bm
the hollowed faces and mindless grins
C Am Ab G F#
are only intent on destroying what they've lost.
(Banton riffs)
..s c r e a m ..sky, .. shrieks ..die
..e n d s ..fall .. sea ..dawn
e -------------|--------------------|------------------|------------|
b -------------|--------------------|------------------|---------3--|
g -------------|--------------------|------------------|-------4----|
d -2-3-4-5-----|------------2-3-4-5-|----------55------|-----5------|
a -------------|--------2-5---------|-------------55---|------------|
e ---------3---|------3-------------|----------------3-|------------|
G
I crawl the wall till steepness ends in the vertical fall;
G
my pain has sailed into the sea -no joking hopes at dawn.
Am
White bone shine in the iron-jaw mask,
Bm
lost mastheads pierce the freezing dark
C Am
and parallel my isolated tower...
G F Em
no paraffin for the flame,
Dm C Bm Am
no harbour left to gain.
MORE TO COME.........
Musicians:
Peter Hammill - lead vocals, guitars, pianos
Hugh Banton - organs, piano, mellotron, bass pedals, bass guitar, synthesiser, vocals
Guy Evans - drums and percussion
David Jackson - saxes, flute, vocals
+ Robert Fripp - electric guitar
Produced by John Anthony
Engineered by Rob Cable, David Hentschel, Ken Scott
Recorded at Trident Studios, London, July through September 1971
1971 Charisma Records Ltd