[Intro]
C G/B F G x2
[Verse]
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
[Outro]
C G/B F G x4