Able Baker
Harvey Andrews
Capo:III
This was recorded by Harvey Andrews on his 1980 vinyl album Margarita (Beeswing
Records). There is a YouTube video of him singing this song at Acoustic Routes Cambridge
in 2007
(search for Harvey Andrews Acoustic Routes as the song title is not in the video
title). He plays it with the capo at fret 3 and uses the chords of the key of G but in the
video recording his tuning seems to be about a quarter tone down. Watch out for the
slight change of pattern in the second lines of verses 6 and 7.
Intro: play the chords of the first verse
There hasn t been much to do for a long time
Someone won the war they say
But he won t give thanks to you for thinking
We re far better off that way
For he wore the wings and the runway waited
Spitfire flies like a bird of prey
Heinkels come again for hunting
As they did that far off May
And he rummages through all the books in view
The belts, the badges, after something new
He reads the novels to remind him when
He fought beside the best of men
Ghosts and shades that haunt the memory
Words he hears but can t recall
A place that brings a face before him
Names upon a billet wall
One more year and the boys reunion
Finds another face not there
Still he wears the faded ribbon
Of the Cross and the Croix de Guerre
And he flies again with the boys in blue
The Few remaining of the very few
He tells the tales that he s told before
And he feels again the esprit de corps
With his victory roll and a mounting toll
He s a fighter pilot with an aces soul
He drinks with boys who will soon be men
And he wakes at dawn, he flies again
And he flies......... again
Able Baker, Charlie Two and Angels Ten,
And the fields of England pass beneath the men
Who fly again, who fly again
Who fly again, who fly again
Who fly again, who fly again