capo I
A E
16 years old when I went the war,
D A
To fight for a land fit for heroes,
A E
God on my side, and a gun in my hand,
D A
Chasing my days down to zero,
A E
And I marched and I fought and I bled and I died,
D A
And I never did get any older,
A E
But I knew at the time that a year in the line,
D A A, A, A,
Is a long enough life for a soldier,
A E
We all volunteered, and we wrote down our names,
D A
And we added two years to our ages,
A E
Eager for life and ahead of the game,
D A
Ready for history's pages,
A E
And we brawled and we fought and we whored 'til we stood,
D A
Ten thousand shoulder to shoulder,
A E
A thirst for the Hun, we were food for the gun,
D A A,
And that's what you are when you're soldiers,
A E D A A E D A A A A
A E
I heard my friend cry, and he sank to his knees,
D A
Coughing blood as he screamed for his mother,
A E
And I fell by his side, and that's how we died,
D A
Clinging like kids to each other,
A E
And I lay in the mud and the guts and the blood,
D A
And I wept as his body grew colder,
A E
And I called for my mother and she never came,
G D
Though it wasn't my fault and I wasn't to blame,
A E
The day not half over and ten thousand slain,
G D
And now there's nobody remembers our names,
D A
And that's how it is for a soldier.
