(capo 4th fret) 
 
 
INtro - Am - C - Am - C - Am - C - G - Am 
 
 
(verse 1) 
Am                             C 
If the waves roll rough as in days before 
          G                Am 
Still we put our boats to sea 
                               C 
The take has been tough, we're counting on more 
   G                Am - C - Am - G - Am 
To make the season pay 
 
(verse 2) 

It was back in '83 my brothers and me 

laid our poor father in his grave 

Even though he's dead and gone, his voice lives on 

In the hiss and pull of the waves 


            C         G 
We'll carry on, carry on 
 F                       C              G 
sing these words through all the damage done 
    F                      C           F 
The old salt would say, I my father's son 
      Am          C 
Come hell or high water 
G           Am   
We'll carry on,  
 
(verse 3) 

In smokey gray rooms, beneath bare lightbulbs,  

The accusations fly 

What the hell do they want, they've taken enough 

From this way of life once mine 
 
Chorus and 
Am - C/B - C - Am - C/B - C - Am - C/B - C - G - Am 
 

Verse4 

It's a merciless scheme, not a fisherman's dream 

The way the tide has turned 

For not long before, by these restless shores 

A man could his living earn 
 
Chorus 
 
ending 
F            C 
Hell or high water  
F            C 
Hell or high water  
F            C 
Hell or high water  
G          Am - C/B - C - Am7 - G - Am 
we'll carry