Key: C
Introduction: C
G
F
C
C
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C
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I'm standing here all by my strand,
C
watch the waves roll on the sand,
F
The sea breeze bouncing off the land
G
blows dirt into my eyes;
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F
I mind when we were active lads,
C
in fishing boats went with our dads,
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G
C
To do what work we had when we was boys.
G
F
We'd go to sea in dories,
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G
we'd go to sea in skiffs,
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Set lobster pots in spring,
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F
shoot autumn seabirds off the cliffs;
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F
And if the times got tougher,
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F
what's the point of making noise,
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F
G
C
Oh, how hard did we work when we was boys.
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G
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C
When we was boys, when we was boys;
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G
C
Oh, how hard did we work when we was boys.
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C
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From water would our living take,
C
the women all the fish would make,
F
Spread them out upon the flake,
G
and hope for sunny skies;
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F
Leave early on a foggy morn,
C
Work until you're weary worn,
F
Steer your way home by the horn,
G
C
when we was boys.
G
F
Where a crowd of youngsters climb
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G
around the rocks upon the beach,
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Where now the boats lie idle
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F
and the fish are out of reach;
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F
Look down upon the harbour
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F
when you go out on the rise,
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F
G
C
It looks nothing like it did when we was boys.
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G
F
C
When we was boys, when we was boys;
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G
C
It looks nothing like it did when we was boys.
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F
The ocean's now a barren gray,
C
we've lost our old-fashion ways,
F
Folks are moving from the bay,
G
it's a thing I did despise;
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F
We who stay live with the fear
C
of growing older every year,
F
We prayed our children would stay near,
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C
just like when we was boys.
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F
We never had much money
C
G
but we got by all the same,
F
We never begged for handouts,
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F
we weren't looking to lay blame;
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F
We practiced self-reliance,
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F
hailed to each other's cries,
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F
But times have changed so much
G
C
since we was boys.
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G
F
C
Since we was boys, since we was boys;
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Yes, times have changed so much
G
C
since we was boys.
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G
F
C
C
F
Today we look to government
C
instead of being independent,
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F
Now the money's all been spent,
G
we've witnessed its demise;
C
F
There's times we've been through thick and thin,
C
been knocked down got up again,
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F
We always found a way to win,
G
C
when we was boys.
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F
Now the foghorn sends a lonely call
C
G
on its way across the swell,
F
The lighthouse keeper's been replaced
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F
with a flashlight on the hill;
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F
Who was it said that elders
C
F
are experienced and wise,
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F
G
C
No one wants to hear about when we was boys.
C
G
F
C
When we was boys, when we was boys;
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G
C
No one wants to hear about when we was boys.
C
G
F
C
When we was boys, when we was boys;
F
Yes, times have changed so much
G
C
since we was boys.
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G
F
C
C
G
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C