Tobacco Island

(início)

from the album Within a Mile of Home
tabbed by Eric Bonkowski

        Bb
And to hell we must sail
For the Shores of sweet Barbados
           Gm
Where the sugar cane grows taller
Than the god we once believed in
          Bb
Till the butcher and his crown
Raped the land we used to sleep in
     Gm                          F
Now tomorrow chimes of ghostly crimes
      Gm  N.C.
  Gm
'Twas 1659 forgotten now for sure
      Bb
They dragged us from our homeland
With the musket and their gun
  Gm
Cromwell and his roundheads
Battered all we know
  Bb
Shackled hopes of freedom
We're now but stolen goods
 F
Darken the horizon
Blackened from the sun
      Am
This rotten cage of Bridgetown
   C
Is where I now belong
        Bb
And to hell we must sail
For the Shores of sweet Barbados
           Gm
Where the sugar cane grows taller
Than the god we once believed in
          Bb
Till the butcher and his crown
Raped the land we used to sleep in
     Gm                          F
Now tomorrow chimes of ghostly crimes
      Gm  N.C.
Gm
Red leg down a peg
Blistered burns the soul
     Bb
The floggings they're a plenty
But reasons there are none
     Gm
Our backs belong to landlords
Where branded is there name
 Bb
Paid for with ten shillings
Cheap labor never breaks
     F
The silver moon is shinin'
Cools the copper blood
           Am
Where the livin' meet the dead
    C
And together dance as one
        Bb
And to hell we must sail
For the Shores of sweet Barbados
           Gm
Where the sugar cane grows taller
Than the god we once believed in
          Bb
Till the butcher and his crown
Raped the land we used to sleep in
     Gm                          F
Now tomorrow chimes of ghostly crimes
      Gm  N.C.
Bb Gm              Bb           Gm
Ag-ony, will you cleanse this misery?
           Bb               Gm
For it's never again I'll breathe
            F
The air of home
           Bb    Gm
From this sandy edge
            Bb             Gm
The rolling sea breaks my revenge
            Bb                Gm
With each whisper a thousand waves
        F
I hear roar
I'm coming home
          - Instrumental break -
              x8
each time break is played, it’s over one chord played in this order:
Gm, F, Gm, F, Gm, F, Gm, Bb (one chord for each time)

on the 4th and 8th time, this is played as an ending:

 F
Dark is the horizon
Blackened by the sun
       Am
This rotten cage of Bridgetown
     C
Is where I now belong
        Bb
And to hell we must sail
For the Shores of sweet Barbados
           Gm
Where the sugar cane grows taller
Than the god we once believed in
          Bb
Till the butcher and his crown
Raped the land we used to sleep in
     Gm                          F
Now tomorrow chimes of ghostly crimes
      Gm  N.C.
        Bb
And to hell we must sail
For the Shores of sweet Barbados
           Gm
Where the sugar cane grows taller
Than the god we once believed in
          Bb
Till the butcher and his crown
Raped the land we used to sleep in
     Gm                          F
Now tomorrow chimes of ghostly crimes
      Gm  N.C.
        - final instrumental break, through end -
no idea how many times it’s played, but it’s basically
alternating these two sections.
  PART 1, played twice:

    after that entire section twice straight through,
  then comes PART 2 played three times

  and after the third time through that, play this ENDING

   then go back to part 1 played twice, followed by
   part 2 played three times, then the ending.
   repeat as needed!
And for any mandolin or violin players,
those few riffs look like this:

*** Remember lots and lots of double picking,
    this isn’t note for note, some are double
    picked, some are slid past or hammered on or
    whatever.  this is meant as a guide. also,
    because the instrumental stuff as well
    as the intro is all played on the
    violin/mandolin/accordion, the guitar
    stuff is at least 1 octave flat to what
    you hear on the actual recording, so make
    adjustments as needed, but the notes themselves
    are pretty close to correct.
great song
Have fun, email questions or corrections to
 F*