Stonecutter
View chords used in this chart
Intro: C Em D-G D G (3x) C Em D-G D
G
If you're down by Queen and Britain streets
D G
You'll find Stonecutter's Lane
The house that my Grandfather built
D G
Where I was born and raised
C G
My Granddad was a mason
D C
And my father in his time
D G C
When my time came I signed as an apprentice lad
INTERLUDE: Em D-G D G C Em D-G D G
The early Nineteen Hundreds
D G
Were a rich, fat afternoon
We were cutting stone like demons
D G
No work was done too soon
C G
We were hired out on seven jobs
D C
And so to take the slack
D G C
We put out advertisements for apprentice lads
INTERLUDE: Em D-G D G C Em D-G D
Bridge:
You'd never find a better crew
C G D
They knew what work was
Cornices and lintels
C G
They laid stone like they were gods
D
To hear the hammers ring out
Am ~ C
You'd think it was a song
G
In August, Nineteen Fourteen
D G
In the sultry summer heat
They took a vote in Ottawa
D G
The drums began to beat
C G
Honour, glory, us or them
D C
The story doesn't change
D G C
To a man they all enlisted, my apprentice lads
INTERLUDE: Em D-G D G C Em D-G D
G
I didn't say that I agreed
D G
'Cause I knew what war was
It was worker killing worker
D G
For some politician's cause
C G
And off to battle they all marched
D C
They gassed them at Cambrai
D G C
The dogs of war had done for my apprentice lads
INTERLUDE: Em D-G D G C Em D-G D
Bridge:
In Nineteen Sixteen fire broke out
C G
Parliament was razed
D
The call went out for masons
C G
To rebuild and to re-lay
D
It was the contract of a lifetime
Am ~ C
The house upon the hill
G
So they came out from Vancouver
D G
They came down from Montreal
Master masons everyone
D G
They were answering their call
C G
There was no man under thirty
D C
No man whose work I didn't know
D G C
The fields of France had swallowed the apprentice lads
INTERLUDE: Em D-G D G C Em D-G D
G
It's Nineteen Twenty-One now
D G
I'm standing at the peak
About to cap the Peace Tower off
D G
There's no one here can speak
C G
The mortar for that stone we mixed
D C
With clay from Flanders' Fields
D G C
Laid it in it's place for those apprentice lads
D G C
Yeah, we laid it in it's place for those apprentice lads
OUTRO: Em D-G D G C Em D-G D G C Em D-G D G
How to play Stonecutter
Use the controls above to change the key and text size. Follow the highlighted chords while listening, then practice each section slowly before playing at the original tempo.
What is the starting chord?
The first identified chord is C. You can transpose without leaving the page.
Can I play it on guitar or keyboard?
Yes. The chord progression works on acoustic guitar, electric guitar and keyboard. Adapt the voicings to your instrument and level.