The Old Man's Song Chords

Lyrics & chords

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