Kiri’s Piano (video)

D - G - A - A7 (2x)

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1. Of all of Kiri Ito's joys, the thing she loved the best

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was to play her prized piano when the sun had gone to rest.

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I used to hear the notes drift down along the silent water,

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as Kiri played the notes and scales for her dear sons and daughters.

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Now, me, I played piano though not as good as Kiri,

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she went in for that long-haired stuff but, my, she played it pretty.

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The old piano had a tone, would set my heart to aching,

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it always sounded sweetest though when it was Kiri playing.

+ D - G - A - A7 (2x)

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2. In December when the Seventh Fleet was turned to smoke and ashes,

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the order came to confiscate their fishing boats and caches.

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And Kiri's husband forced to go and work in labour camps,

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and Kiri left alone to fend and hold the fort as best she can.

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But the music did not drift as often from up the cove at Kiri's house,

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and when it did it sounded haunted,

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played with worry, played with doubt.

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For Kiri knew that soon she too would be compelled to leave,

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and the old upright would stay behind and Kiri, she would grieve.

+ D - G - A - A7 (2x)

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3. I loaded Kiri on the bus with stoic internees,

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the crime that they were guilty of was that they were not like me.

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And if I was ashamed, I didn't know it at the time,

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they were flotsam on the wave of war, they were no friends of mine.

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I went up to Kiri's house to tag all their belongings,

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and set them out for auctioneers who'd claim them in the morning.

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One piece that I thought I'd keep and hold back for myself,

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was that haunting ivory upright that Kiri played so well.

+ D - G - A - A7 (2x)

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4. But Kiri had not left it there for me to take as plunder,

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she'd rolled it down onto the dock and on into the harbor.

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The old upright in strangers' hands was a thought she couldn't bear,

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so she consigned it to the sea to settle the affair.

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So many years have come and gone since Kiri's relocation,

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I look back now upon that time with shame and resignation.

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For Kiri knew what I did not, that if we must be free,

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then sometimes we must sacrifice to gain our dignity.

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Yes, Kiri knew what I did not, that if we must be free,

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then sometimes we must sacrifice to gain our dignity.

(orig. = capo 2nd) (James Keelaghan)