Tom: Am
Am Em
Will you do me a favor, pianoman, please?
C G/B
I want you to write me a song
C G/B Em
They call me the Hero of Antelope’s Run
Am Em Am
And I’ve got to show them they’re wrong
C G/B
You see, it all started a week ago
Am Em
In the bar down on corridor three
Am G/B Em
There was nobody there but the regular bums:
Am Em Am
Two losers, the barman, and me
Am G/B Em
Slopping up booze in the north corner booth
C Dm Em
Was the old man they called Captain Jed
Am G/B
‘Cause he owned a tramp freighter, the old Antelope
Am Em Am
A ship that, like him, was half dead
C G/B G
Now Molly, they say, was a crack pilot once
Am Em
A gal with a brilliant career
Am G/B Em
But then she started doping on Regulus One
Am Em Am
And finally washed out down here
Am Em
And me, well, I wanted the Navy, bad
C G/B
But it seems that they didn’t want me
C G/B Em
So I stopped chasing stars, started sweeping up bars
Am Em Am
For bed, board, and all my drinks free
C G/B G
It was quiet that night, with the docks closed down
Am Em
There was nothing due in for a week
Am G/B Em
Not a ship was in port but the old Antelope
Am Em Am
When the red alert started to shriek:
Am G/B Am
The whole station shook like a hurt living thing
Am Dm Em
Then the lights dimmed and faded away
Am G/B Em
Then the gravity went, and the air pumps cut out
Am Em Am
And the bartender started to pray
C G/B G
“Ah, stow that bilge, head for the Antelope now!”
Am Em
Jed’s voice cut the dark like a knife
Am G/B Em
“The station reactor’s gone critical load
Am Em Am
So run to the docks for your life!”
Am Em
When we got to the docks, we found waiting out there
C G/B
Every soul that had been left alive
C G/B Em
They begged with their eyes for poor old Captain Jack
Am Em Am
To tell them all how to survive
Am G/B Em
“Break out the suits,” said the captain to them
Am Em
“For it’s dark and it’s airless and cold
Am G/B Em
But I swear I can get you all out of here safe
Am Em Am
Packed in to the Antelope’s hold.”
Am G/B
“Molly,” he asked, “Can you navigate?”
Em C Dm Em
“Aye,” she said. “Who do we have for a crew?”
Am Em
“The Antelope needs only three hands,” he said
Am Em Wm
“And I think our young friend here will do.”
C G/B G
The confident look that he flashed at me then
Am Em
Made my heart turn over with pride
Am G/B Em
I never once thought about backing away
Am Em Am
I think I would rather have died
Am Em
Two hundred alive in the Antelope’s hold
C G/B
And the Captain, and Molly, and me
C G/B Em
We slammed the locks just as the station blew wide
Am Em Am
Jed hit the main jets to get free
C G/B G
Now, that kind of G-force is rough on the heart
Am Em
Too much for his ticker to take
Am G/B Em
So when we came around and we saw how he lay
Am Em Am
We knew Captain Jed wouldn’t wake
Am G/B Em
So I took the comm, and the engineer board
C Dm G/B
And Molly took helm and the nav
Am G/B Em
With the manual spread out all over the deck
Am Em Am
And her mind for what they didn’t have
C G/B G
She worked at that comp like a crazy machine
Am Em
While her hands shook like grass in the breeze
Am G/B Em
But her skills were still sharp, and she jumped us three times
Am Em Am
Never minding the shakes and DTs
Am Em
Three jumps made clean, only one more was left
C G/B
When the ship’s alarm started to blast -
C G/B Em
Her old worn-out seals had come loose in the stress
Am Em Am
We were losing our heat and air fast
C G/B G
On the bridge, there was only one vacuum suit left
Am Em
Well, they say Lady Luck is stone blind
Am G/B Em
“Heads or tails,” was the question I started to ask
Am Em Am
When I felt myself hit from behind
Am G/B Em
When I came to again, I was sealed in the suit
C Dm Em
She was belted down tight in her chair
Am G/B Em
With her hands on the console, a smile on her lips
Am Em Am
And the ice on her face and her hair
C G/B G
“Here’s the instructions to get us all home,”
Am Em
I saw she had left on the screen
Am G/B Em
“If any old shipmates should ask after Mol
Am Em Am
Just tell them she finally died clean.”
Am Em
I made the last jump just like she told me to
C G/B
And I brought the ship in like she’s said
C G/B Em
C They call me a hero now, for what I did
Am Em Am
But they don’t mention Molly or Jed
C G/B G
So write me that song now, pianoman, please
Am Em
And sing it out often and loud
Am G/B Em
So they all know the story of one kind of hero
Am Em Am
The kind that makes everyone proud
Am G/B Em
For some kinds of hero are lunkheads like me
C Dm Em
Who only do things that they’re told
Am G/B Em
And some kinds of hero are out for the glory
Am Em Am
They’re heroes on purpose, and bold
C G/B G
Some become heroes for bravery, sure
Am Em
And some just because all is lost
Am G/B Em
But a few are true heroes, like Molly and Jed
Am Em Am
Who give without counting the cost
