Ode to Big Blue
Gordon Lightfoot

    Am                           G           Am
The oceans of the world were the home of Big Blue
                                     E7
He was the greatest monster that the world ever knew
        Am                               G              Am
And the place that he loved best was the waters to the west
                  G            Am
Around the blue Pacific he did roam

    Am                     G               Am
Big Blue moved alone for a mighty blue was he
                                     E7
And the battles of the whales was an awesome sight to see
        Am                          G                Am
And he took them one by one, and he drove them all away
                      G              Am
In the mating of the day he was the king

    Am                          G            Am
Big Blue had fifty wives and he sired forty sons
                                       E7
Though most of them fell victim to the cruel harpoon guns
        Am                          G                        Am
Ah, but he was much too wise to get caught by the gunners' eyes
                   G             Am
And so he lived at sea a hundred years

    Am                      G              Am
His mouth was as large as a tunnel so they say
                                      E7
His hide was thick as leather and his eyes were quick and small
        Am                          G              Am
And his back was all scarred by the times he got away
                         G               Am
And he knew the smell of whalers did Big Blue

    Am                      G          Am
Big Blue passed away to his natural decay
                               E7
Beside the Arctic Circle as he traveled up that way
          Am                       G                    Am
And there never was a man who was born with a gunner's hand
                G          Am
Who ever took a pan to Big Blue

        Am                         G               Am
Now the gray whale has run and the sperm is almost done
                                           E7
The finbacks and the Greenland rights have all passed and gone
             Am                       G                Am
They've been taken by the men for the money they could spend
                      G                  Am
And the killing never ends, it just goes on


Repeat verse 1; last line 2x