Santa Never Made It Into Darwin chords

by Bill & Boyd

Song Key: E Major

Key Signature: 4 sharps (F#, C#, G#, D#)

Piano Chords: E, E7, F#m, F#m7, F#7, G#m, A, B7, C#m, C#m7

Time Signature: 4/4 (♩)

Tempo: 138 bpm (Moderately)

Vocal Range: B3 - F#5


Guitar Tuning: E A D G B e

Skill Level: Beginner

Guitar Chords in C Major: C, C7, Dm, Dm7, D7, Em, F, G7, Am, Am7

Capo: 4th fret (to play along with the video in E Major)

Chart Legend
Numbered Circles: Fingers used to play chords   O: Optional Note
Barre Line: One finger holds down multiple strings   R: Root Note
Unmarked strings: Play open   X: Don't play string    B: Bass Note
C Major C7 Dm Dm7 D7 Em F Major F Major barre chord B7 Am Am7
C Major-LH C7-LH Dm-LH Dm7-LH D7-LH Em-LH F Major-LH F Major barre chord-LH B7-LH Am-LH Am7-LH

Santa Never Made It Into Darwin

Song Key is highlighted - Transpose to any other key
              F     G7    C     Am7     Dm     G7     C
Intro: 4/4 |     |     |     |       |      |      |     |  %  |

      C                                    Dm7
1. On Christ-mas Eve of se-ven-ty four the warn-ing sound-ed out
      G7                                   F                C
   On all the broad-cast sta-tions a great storm was near a-bout |  %  |
       C                                Dm7
   The boys and girls a-sleep in bed to-mor-row was their day
         G7                                   F                  C     C   C7
   Their mums and dads all prayed the migh-ty storm would turn a-way |   -    |
 
        F             G7            C         C    C7
Chorus: San-ta ne-ver made it in-to Dar-win |   -     | 
           F                 G7                 C     C   C7
        Di-sas-ter struck at dawn on Christ-mas day |   -    |
        F             G7              C          Em    Am     C
        San-ta ne-ver made it in-to | Dar-win -      |     -    |
          Dm                G7                  C
        A big wind came and blew the town a - | way |  %  |  %  |  %  |
 
              C                            Dm7
2. Christ-mas morn-ing was a night-mare as cy-clone Tra-cy struck
      G7                                    F              C
   It rip-ped a-part the build-ings like an a-tom bomb had struck |  %  |
       C                             Dm7
   It twis-ted i-ron gir-ders and it flat-tened all the trees
       G7                               F             C        C    C7
   The might of such a cy-clone must be seen to be be-lieved |   -     |  
 
        F             G7            C         C    C7
Chorus: San-ta ne-ver made it in-to Dar-win |    -    | 
           F                 G7                 C     C    C7
        Di-sas-ter struck at dawn on Christ-mas day |    -    |
        F             G7              C          Em    Am     C
        San-ta ne-ver made it in-to | Dar-win -      |     -    |
          Dm                G7                  C     C    Em
        A big wind came and blew the town a - | way |   -      |  

        Am
Bridge: Ma-ny boats put out to sea
        Em
        Ve-ry few re-turned
        F                   C
        Boats were pound-ed on the rocks
              D7              G7
        Or in huge seas o-ver-turned |  %  |
        
       C                                   Dm7    
3. Aus-tra-li-a was shocked and sad-dened, as the news came through
       G7                      F               C
   The dev-a-sta-ted ci-ty, it must be built a-new
       C                              Dm7
   The suf-fer-ing and heart-break to hap-pen in this way
     G7                      F                  C     C    C7   
   A nat-u-ral dis-as-ter to come on Christ-mas Day |    -    | 
 
        F             G7            C         C    C7
Chorus: San-ta ne-ver made it in-to Dar-win |    -    | 
           F                 G7                 C     C   C7
        Di-sas-ter struck at dawn on Christ-mas day |   -    |
        F             G7              C          Em    Am     C
        San-ta ne-ver made it in-to | Dar-win -      |     -    |
          Dm                G7                  C     C    Em
        A big wind came and blew the town a - | way |   -      |

        F             G7            C         C    C7
Chorus: San-ta ne-ver made it in-to Dar-win |    -    |
           F                 G7                 C     C    C7
        Di-sas-ter struck at dawn on Christ-mas day |    -    |
        F             G7              C          Em    Am     C
        San-ta ne-ver made it in-to | Dar-win -      |     -    |
          Dm                G7                  C     Em    Am    C
        A big wind came and blew the town a - | way -     |    -    |
          Dm                G7                  C           Dm   G7    C
        A big wind came and blew the town a - | way |  %  |    -    |  𝄑  |

Song Brief:

Cyclone Tracy
The Aftermath of Cylone Tracy

The following is an excerpt from YouTube in relation to the History surrounding the song:

Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day, 1974, devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. It is the most compact cyclone or equivalent-strength hurricane on record in the Australian basin and Southern Hemisphere, with gale-force winds extending only 48 kilometres (30 mi) from the centre, and was also the smallest tropical cyclone worldwide until 2008, when Tropical Storm Marco of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season broke the record, with gale-force winds extending only 19 kilometres (12 mi) from the centre. After forming over the Arafura Sea, the storm moved southwards and affected the city with Category 4 winds on the Australian cyclone intensity scale, while there is evidence to suggest that it had reached Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale when it made landfall.

Tracy killed 71 people, caused A$837 million in damage (1974 dollars), or approximately A$6.41 billion (2014 dollars), or $4.94 billion 2014 USD. It destroyed more than 70 percent of Darwin's buildings, including 80 percent of houses. Tracy left more than 25,000 out of the 47,000 inhabitants of the city homeless prior to landfall and required the evacuation of over 30,000 people. Most of Darwin's population was evacuated to Adelaide, Whyalla, Alice Springs, Brisbane and Sydney, and many never returned to the city. After the storm passed, the city was rebuilt using more stringent standards "to cyclone code". Bruce Stannard of The Age stated that Cyclone Tracy was a "disaster of the first magnitude ... without parallel in Australia's history."

Song Details:
  • Composer: Bill Cate
  • Lyricist: Bill Cate
  • Lyrics Begin: On Christmas Eve of seventy four the warning sounded out,
  • Performing Artists: Bill & Boyd
  • Single Release: January 1975
  • Album: Bill & Boyd
  • Released: December, 1975
  • Genre: Country
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