The Mercenary
The Mercenary

The Mercenary easy guitar chords by Bruce Cockburn

N/A•
Guitar
Tuning

E A D G B E

Capo

Fret 4

Capo

Transpose

0

Capo

  • Em

  • Fm

  • D

  • F

  • C

  • Em

  • Fm

  • D

  • F

  • C

    • Verse 1
    Um. 
    A long time ago 
    I was a music student 


    You wouldn't necessarily 
    know that now 

    But I 
    was, actually 

    I had serious intentions 

    And 
    thought I was gonna be composing 

    for 
    large 
    jazz ensembles 

    And I 
    studied 
    that 

    And I stud
    ied in Boston 

    Er, 
    for a couple 
    of years 

    (And you 
    decided 

    to keep it all for 
    yourself) 

    Hah! 
    Did you guys 
    hear that? 

    He said 
    "And you decided to keep 

    it all for yourself" 

    Er, 
    that's the 
    kind of prick I 

    am 

    I may not be able to sing 
    now 

    Ok, so 
    he's going to stop talking 

    now 

    So that's, that's 
    going to be alright 

    And it 
    was the mid- sixties 

    And 
    it was the Vietnam 
    period 

    (Yow) 

    Is 
    that because you 
    were there or you weren't 

    there? 

    Like, what are we 
    celebrating 
    here? 

    Heh. 
    Well. Anyway 

    I 
    got offered a summer 
    job 

    I lasted, 
    well, 
    almost 
    two years at, 

    at music school 

    But, 
    and 
    in 
    between the two 
    school seasons there 

    of course 
    there was a summer 

    And er, 
    um, 
    and I got offered a job 

    Which 
    I came 
    very close to accepting 


    For a minute. 
    Er 

    And the job was 
    with a guy that came back 

    from Vietnam 

    And he 
    was a friend 
    of a 
    dorm mate of mine, 

    and, erm 

    He had 
    a 
    plan, and his plan 
    was to go down to Central 

    America 

    And spend the summer 

    run
    ning guns 
    to Cuba 

    Er, 
    which he 
    said 
    would be a 

    very lucrative 
    enterprise 

    And 
    for some 
    reason he wanted me 

    to join him 
    in 
    this 

    I thought, 
    wow, y'know, it 
    beats playing in 

    these crappy 
    clubs in Chelsea 

    The crappy jug 
    band that I'm in, 
    and, 
    er, y'know, 

    various 
    other 
    possibilities 
    for the summer 

    Erm, 
    and 
    er, y'know, 

    I was eighteen 
    years 
    old 

    And I 
    didn't have a very 
    well- 
    developed sense of 

    the 
    moral implications 
    of 
    things like that 

    And, and, er, 
    so 
    I, I gave 
    it some thought 

    Until I 
    realised 
    that 
    my 
    job would consist 

    of 

    Getting between this 

    guy and people that were trying 
    to kill him 

    And 
    I felt 
    under- 
    qualified for that 
    job 

    And, 
    er, 
    and 
    I - I - I 
    felt further 
    that anybody 

    who felt I was 
    qualified for that job 

    Was someone I did 
    not want to be near 

    when that stuff started happening 

    So, 
    so, er, 
    I declined 

    And 
    here 
    we are 

    Here we all are 

    As a res
    ult, y'know 

    Choices, 
    Hmm? 

    I tell 
    you 
    this story because, 
    er 

    The, 
    the 
    person in 
    question plays 

    a very tiny part 

    In the song 
    I'm about to do 

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