## NOTE: ~ = Walk-Down from C ## 


CAPO: 4th Fret 



Intro: C   G   C   G   C 

                          Cadd9 Am                         F     
Of all of Kiri Ito's joys,         the thing she loved the best 
       C        ~        Am           D7               F    C 
Was to play her prized piano when the sun had gone to rest 
                                   Cadd9 Am                  F     C  
I used to hear the notes drift down         along the silent water 
        ~          Am                   D7                F           C 
As Kiri played the notes and scales for her dear sons and daughters 



          ~        C   Cadd9 Am                       F     C 
Now me, I played piano,         though not as good as Kiri 
            ~        Am                     D7               F       C 
She went in for that long haired stuff, but my she played it pretty 
    ~         C          Cadd9 Am                       F       C 
The old piano had a tone,         would set my heart to aching 
          ~       Am                     D7          F        
It always sounded sweetest, though, when it was Kiri playing 


INTERLUDE: G   C  F  G 


     C      ~        C                 Am                  F     C 
In December when the seventh fleet was turned to smoke and ashes 
          ~       Am               D7                F       C 
The order came to confiscate their fishing boats and caches 
           ~       C                Am                F    C 
And Kiri's husband forced to go and work in labour camps 
               ~       Am       D7               F              
And Kiri left alone to fend and hold the fort as best she can 



        C     ~       C              Cadd9 Am                F            C 
But the music did not drift as often,         up the cove at Kiri's house 
            ~      Am               D7                   F      
And when it did it sounded haunted, played with worry, played with doubt 
    C    ~         C           Cadd9   Am                F  
For Kiri knew that soon she too  would be compelled to leave 
        C     ~           Am              D7                F   
And the old upright would stay behind and Kiri she would grieve 


INTERLUDE: F   G   C  F  G 



  C      ~    C               Am         F      C 
I loaded Kiri on the bus with stoic internees 
               ~         Am                 D7                 F    C 
The crime that they were guilty of was that they were not like me 
         ~    C                Am              F  
And if I was ashamed, I didn't know it at the time 
          C       ~      Am                D7                 F     C 
They were flotsam on the wave of war, they were no friends of mine 



           ~     C           Cadd9 Am                    F         C 
And I went up to Kiri's house         to tag all their belongings 
             ~       Am                D7                   F     C 
And set them out for auctioneers who'd claim them in the morning 
         ~       C               Cadd9 Am              F  
One piece that I thought I'd keep and  hold back for myself 
         C        ~     Am           D7             F     G   C   F   G   C 
Was that haunting ivory upright that Kiri played so well 


INTERLUDE: G   C   F   G   C 


     ~       C            Cadd9 Am                   F        C 
Kiri had not left it there         for me to take as plunder 
                ~      Am              D7          F       C 
She'd rolled it down onto the dock and on into the harbour 
           ~        C                      Am                   F     C 
That old upright in strangers' hands was a thought she couldn't bear 
          ~         Am            D7            F     
So she consigned it to the sea to settle the affair 



   C    ~          C            Cadd9 Am                  F      C 
So many years have come and gone         since Kiri's relocation 
            ~     Am                D7             F        
I look back now upon that time with shame and resignation 
    C    ~         C        Cadd9 Am            F 
For Kiri knew what I did not that if we must be free 
     C         ~       Am           D7       F        C 
Then sometimes we must sacrifice to gain our dignity 
     C    ~         C        Cadd9 Am            F 
Yes, Kiri knew what I did not that if we must be free 
     C         ~       Am           D7       F     
Then sometimes we must sacrifice to gain our dignity