Able Baker
Harvey Andrews
Capo:III
This was recorded by Harvey Andrews on his 1980 vinyl album Margarita (Beeswing
Records). There is a YouTube video of him singing this song at Acoustic Routes Cambridge
in 2007
(search for 'Harvey Andrews Acoustic Routes' as the song title is not in the video
title). He plays it with the capo at fret 3 and uses the chords of the key of G but in the
video recording his tuning seems to be about a quarter tone down. Watch out for the
slight change of pattern in the second lines of verses 6 and 7.
Intro: play the chords of the first verse
G D
There hasn't been much to do for a long time
C G D G
Someone won the war they say
C G Em
But he won't give thanks to you for thinking
A7 D
We're far better off that way
G D
For he wore the wings and the runway waited
C G D G
Spitfire flies like a bird of prey
C G Em
Heinkels come again for hunting
A7 D
As they did that far off May
G D
And he rummages through all the books in view
C G D G
The belts, the badges, after something new
C G Em
He reads the novels to remind him when
A7 D
He fought beside the best of men
G D
Ghosts and shades that haunt the memory
C G D G
Words he hears but can't recall
C G Em
A place that brings a face before him
A7 D
Names upon a billet wall
G D
One more year and the boys reunion
C G D G
Finds another face not there
C G Em
Still he wears the faded ribbon
A7 D
Of the Cross and the Croix de Guerre
G D
And he flies again with the boys in blue
G C G
The Few remaining of the very few
C G Em
He tells the tales that he's told before
A7 D
And he feels again the esprit de corps
G D
With his victory roll and a mounting toll
G C G
He's a fighter pilot with an aces soul
C G Em
He drinks with boys who will soon be men
A7 D
And he wakes at dawn, he flies again
G C G D
And he flies......... again
G D G D G
Able Baker, Charlie Two and Angels Ten,
G D G
And the fields of England pass beneath the men
D G
Who fly again, who fly again
D G
Who fly again, who fly again
D G D G
Who fly again, who fly again