(intro) D C/D D

D      A/D               D          G/D             A/D
Now my grandfather was a sailor, he blew in off the water
D               A/D         G/D           A/D
My father was a farmer and I, his only daughter,
D               A/D                  G/D            A/D
took up with a no-good millworking man from Massachusetts
    D                  A/D         G/D                   A/D       D
who dies from too much whiskey and leaves me these three faces to feed

( D C9 G6/B A74 )

A/D               D   G/D             A/D
Mill-work ain't easy; mill-work ain't hard
D                   A/D            G/D          A/D
Mill-work, it ain't nothing but an awful boring job
    D             A/D          G/D                 A/D
I'm waiting for a day dream to take me through the morning
    D             A/D               G/D          A/D            D
and put me in my coffee break where I can have a sandwich and remember

          C9                   G6/B
Then it's me and my machine for the rest of the morning
        Gm/Bb                 A74
for the rest of the afternoon
                    D          C/D D C/D
and the rest of my life

Now my mind begins to wander to the days back on the farm
I can see my father smiling at me, swingin' on his arm
I can hear my grand-dad's stories of the storms out on Lake Erie
where vessels and cargos and fortunes and sailor's lives were lost

Yes, but it's my life has been wasted, and I have been the fool
to let this manufacture use my body for a tool.
I can ride home in the evening, staring at my hands
swearing by my sorrow that a young girl ought to stand a better chance

   C9                      G6/B
So may I work the mills just as long as I am able
    Gm/Bb                    A74              D
and never meet the man whose name is on the label
      C9                   G6/B
It be me and my machine for the rest of the morning
        Gm/Bb                 A74
for the rest of the afternoon
                    D          C/D D C/D
and the rest of my life