Santa Never Made It Into Darwin chords
Bill & BoydSong Key: E Major
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: 138 bpm
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 with the video in E Major)
Play-Along Video & Chord Charts
Video - starts at 0:17
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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 | % | - | 𝄑 |
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Arrangement Details:
- Key Signature: E Major - 4 sharps (F#, C#, G#, D#)
- Chords in E Major: E, E7, F#m, F#m7, F#7, G#m, A, B7, C#m, C#m7
- Time Signature: 4/4 — Four quarter-note beats per measure
- Tempo: Moderately
- Metronome: ♩ = 138
- Voice Range: B3 - F#5
Song Details:

- Songwriter: Bill Cate
- Lyrics Begin: On Christmas Eve of seventy four the warning sounded out,
- Genre: Charity Single, Country Pop, Australian Christmas Music
- Featured Artists: Bill & Boyd
- Single:
Released: January 1975
B-side: Chulu Chululu - Album: Bill & Boyd
Released: December, 1975
Song Brief:

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."