The Old Man's Song chords by Paddy Reilly

SimplifiedG · D · A · Em

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Verse 1
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 (G major)  (D major) At  (A major) the turning of the  (G major) century,
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I was  (A major) a  lad of five.
My father went off to fight the Boers
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and he  (G major) never came  (D major) back  (A major) alive.
My mother, she had to bring us up,
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no  (G major) charity  (D major) she'd  (A major) seek.
She rubbed and scrubbed
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and scraped  (G major) along
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on seven and  (D major) six a  (A major) week
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At the early age of thir (G major) teen years
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I left school  (A major) and took a  (D major) job
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 (A major) I knew my mother could deal
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with the  (G major) extra couple  (D major) above
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 (A major) I know that longer schooling
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would have stood  (G major) me bet (D major) ter stead
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 (A major) But you can't afford refine (G major) ments
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while you're struggling  (A major) for your bread
And when the Great War started,
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 (G major) well, I did (A major) n't hesitate
I took the royal shilling
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and went  (G major) off to do  (D major) my bit  (A major) 
We fought in blood and sweat and mud
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for three  (G major) years or  (D major) thereabout (A major) s
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Then I caught some gas in  (G major) Flanders
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and got in the  (A major) lead of doubt
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And when the war was  (G major) over,
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and we'd settled  (A major) with  (D major)  (A major) the hum,
We went back to our civvies,
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for we'd  (G major) thought the fighting  (D major) 
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done.  (A major) 
We thought we'd won the
right for peace,
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but there  (G major) was no  (D major) such  (A major) luck,
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For soon we found we had  (G major) to fight
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for the right to go  (A major) to work
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In twenty -six the general  (E minor) strike
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saw  (A major) me out on the street
I had a wife and kids by then
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and their  (E minor) needs were  (A major) hard to meet
But the brave new world was coming
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with the brother (E minor)  (A major) hood  (D major) of  (A major) man
And when the strike was over,
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 (E minor)  (A major) we were back where we began
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We struggled through the thirties,  (G major) 
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out of work now  (A major) and again
I saw the blue shirts marching
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and the thing (G major) s  they did  (D major) in Spain
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 (A major) They brought me kids up decent
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and they  (G major) taught them  (D major) wrong from  (A major) right
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Hitler was the lad  (G major) who came
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and showed them how  (A major) to fight
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My daughter, she's a land  (G major) girl
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She got married to  (A major) a Yank
My son, he got a medal
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First up in one  (G major) of Rom (D major) mel's tanks  (A major) 
He was wounded near the end of the war
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And he come  (G major) blessed  (D major) in  (A major) Rome
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And he married a  (G major) night -time nurse
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and never bothered to  (D major) come  (A major) home
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My daughter writes me once  (G major) a week
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a cheerful  (A major) little note
About her colour telly
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and the  (G major) other thing  (D major) she's  (A major) got
She has a son, a likely lad,
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he's just  (G major) turned twenty  (D major) -one
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 (A major) But  (A major) now she tells me he's
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 (G major) been called up  (A major) at NAMM
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 (A major) We're living on the pension  (G major) now
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and it does (A major) n't go too far
Not much to show for a life
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that seems like one  (G major) long  (D major) bloody war
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 (A major) When I think of all the wasted lives,
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it  (G major) makes me  (D major) want to  (A major) cry
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I'm not sure how we'll  (G major) change things,
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but by Christ we'll  (D major) have  (A major) to try