WHITE SQUALL - Stan Rogers
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Now it's just my luck to have the watch, with nothing left to do
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But watch the deadly waters glide, as we roll north to the Soo
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And wonder when they'll turn again, and pitch us to the rail
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And whirl off one more youngster in the gale
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The kid was so damned eager, it was all so big and new
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You never had to tell him twice, or find him work to do
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And evenings on the mess deck, he was always first to sing
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And show us pictures of the girl he'd wed in spring
CHORUS ONE (after verses 1, 3,):
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But I told that kid a hundred times, don't take the lakes for granted
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They'll go from calm to a hundred knots, so fast they seem en-chanted
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But to-night some red-eyed Wiarton girl, lies staring at the wall
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And her lover's gone in-to a white squall
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Now it's a thing that us old-timers know, in a sultry summer calm
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There comes a blow from nowhere, and it goes off like a bomb
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And a sixteen thousand tonner can be thrown upon her beam
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While the gale takes all before it with a scream
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The kid was on the hatches, lying staring at the sky
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From where I stood, I swear I could, see tears fall from his eye
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So I hadn't the heart to tell him, that he should be on a line
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Even on a night so warm and fine
WHITE SQUALL PAGE TWO
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When it struck, he sat up with a start, I roared to him: Get down
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But for all that he could hear, I might as well not made a sound
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So I clung there to the stanchions and I felt my face grow pale
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As he crawled hand-over-hand along the rail
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Now I could feel her heeling over with the fury of the blow
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And I watched the rail go under then, so terrible and slow
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Then like some great dog she shook herself and roared upright a-gain
Em G C C
While overside I heard him call my name
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So it's just my luck to have the watch, with nothing left to do
E E Dm G
But watch the deadly waters glide, as we roll north to the Soo
C C Am F
And wonder when they'll turn again, and pitch us to the rail
Em G C C
And whirl off one more youngster in the gale
CHORUS TWO:
G G/B F E
And I tell these kids a hundred times, don't take the lakes for granted
Am E Dm G
They'll go from calm to a hundred knots, so fast they seem en-chanted
C C Am F
But to-night some red-eyed Wiarton girl, lies staring at the wall
E G C C
And her lover's gone into a white squall
