One Song At A Time

My whistle under the archways still echos down the street

All the way back to Deptford, days and nights down by the creek

Notes as big as river boats still echoing through the clubs

With the horns of the trains down the old back lanes

And the lights of the corner pubs

In a taproom lined with mirrors there's a man there at the bar

Reminds you of somebody, he says, "I know who you are"

He's right I know, I could be him, but anyway who is who?

You could be looking at what he's looking at

He's looking at you

And I'll be out of this place and down the road wherever

There but for the grace, etcetera, I'll see you later when it's 1979

And I'm picking my way out of here one song at a time

The slaving ports of plunder used to stink to Heaven on high

Companions of honor always were in short supply

The Bristol ships and Liverpool's on every tide, they came

Times they may changed, my friend, some people stay the same

And I'll be out of this place and down the road wherever

There but for the grace, etcetera, I'll see you later when it's 1879

And I'm picking my way out of here one song at a time

A grinning mogul greets the crowd at Execution Dock

All come to see three mutineers turned off at twelve o'clock

The shyster takes a ringside seat as they're bringin' 'em from the jail

Twenty thousand tickets sold online on premium sale

So if you need to reach me, you can leave word at The Pig

I have no wish to stay around to watch that Newgate jig

Or any more poor old fakers trying to dance in my shoes

I'll be gone over the ocean with the transatlantic blues

And I'll be out of this place and down the road wherever

There but for the grace, etcetera, I'll see you later somewhere down the line

I'll be picking my way out of here one song at a time