C#m E B C#m
My name is William Taylor
C#m E B C#m E B C#m
I was born in twenty four Too late to know the great 
fallen
C#m E B
But in time to know the great fall
B A E B C#m
When my father died of money
C#m A E B
My mother lived in spite
B A E B C#m
We laughed when nothing was funny
C#m E B
But how we wept when nothing was left
B C#m E B C#m
So I left her there in boom town
C#m E B
When I reached fifteen years
B C#m E B C#m
And I travelled mostly northeast
C#m E B
With my head held mostly down
B A E B C#m
Cause they said there was more in Baltimore
C#m A E B
Where those shipyards never close
B A E B C#m
You can sell the man your labor
C#m E B C#m E B C#m
Send the money home Broadway found me pennyless
C#m E B 
And the mission found me last
B C#m E B C#m
They gave me a coat and three days rest
C#m E B A E B C#m
And when I awoke and left a shroud of steam surrounded 
me
C#m A E B
And I was born away
A E B C#m
I found myself at Sparrows Point
C#m E B
With a sling-shot in my hand
B C#m E B C#m E B 
And standing there around me Two thousand idle hands
B C#m E
With their heads bowed low
B C#m
Their hopes not high
C#m E B
Their hearts weaned of their homes
B A E B C#m
And their pockets full of photographs
C#m A E B
And their eyes full of goodbyes
B A E B C#m
I took my place among my kind
C#m E B
And I held my place in line
B C#m E B C#m
Now I'm twenty one and well employed
C#m E B
And I send home most my pay
B C#m E B C#m
Which leaves plenty left for cigarettes
C#m E B
To help me pass the days
B A E B C#m
With beloved friends surrounding me
C#m A E B
The cold street so far away
A E B C#m
Three days west of Normandy
C#m E B
With a rifle in my hand