The Soul Cages

Gm Bb C
Gm Bb C

Gm                                              C
The boy child is locked in the fisherman's yard
Gm                                              C
There's a bloodless moon where the oceans die
Gm                                              C
A shoal of nightstars hang fire in the nets
Gm                                              C
And the chaos of cages where the crayfish lie

Gm                                              C
Where is the fisherman, where is the goat?
Gm                                              C
Where is the keeper in his carrion coat?
Gm                                              C
Eclipse on the moon when the dark bird flies
Gm                                              C
Where is the child with his father's eyes?



Gm                                              C
He's the king of the ninth world
Gm                                              C
The twisted son of the fog bells toll
Gm                                              C
In each and every lobster cage
Gm                                              C
A tortured human soul



Bb
These are the souls of the broken factories
The subject slaves of the broken crown
The dead accounting of old guilty promises
                           C        
These are the souls of the broken town



Gm            Bb   C        Gm            Bb   C
These are the soul cages    These are the soul cages
Gm            Bb   C        Gm            Bb   C
These are the soul cages    These are the soul cages


Am                                              D
'I have a wager' the brave child spoke
Am                                              D
The fisherman laughed, though disturbed at the joke.
Am                                              D
'You will drink what I drink but you must equal me
Am                                                   D
And if the drink leaves me standing, y soul shall go free'


'I have here a cask of most magical wine
A vintage that blessed every ship in the line
It's wrung from the blood of the sailors who died
Young white body adrift in the tide'

'And what's in it for me my pretty young thing?
Why should I whistle, when the caged bird sings?
If you lose a wager with the king of the sea
You'll spend the rest of forever in the cage with me'


Gm            Bb   C        Gm            Bb   C
These are the soul cages    These are the soul cages
Gm            Bb   C        Gm            Bb   C
These are the soul cages    These are the soul cages



A body lies open in the fisherman's yard
Like the side of a ship where the iceberg rips
One less soul in the soul cages
One last curse on the fisherman's lips



Gm            Bb   C        Gm            Bb   C
These are the soul cages    These are the soul cages
Gm            Bb   C        Gm            Bb   C
These are the soul cages    These are the soul cages



   D                              Bm7
He dreamed of the ship on the sea
         F#m                  A
It would carry his father and me
     D                         Bm7
To a place they could never be found
           F#m                A
To a place far away from this town
  D                         Bm7
A Newcastle ship without coals
A          D           E         F#m
They would sail to the island of souls