Why Old Men Cry Chords by Dick Gaughan

[E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ I walk from Epir to Paschen Day
_ In the first-grade [B] days of spring
_ _ [D#m] Through [B] flatland fields where life goes on _ _
And carefree [F#] children _ [E] sing
[F#] Past rows [B] of ancient [E] _ [G#m] _
[B] tombstones
Where a generation _ [E]
lies
_ And at last [F#] I [B] understood _ [F#] why old [B] man _ _
_ _ _ _ _ My [F#]
[B] mother's father
[E] Walked in his [B] fields [F#] some eighty [G#m] _ years [B] ago _
_ [F#] He was half [B] the age [D#m] that [E] I am [B] now
No way that he [E] could know
That [F#] his unborn [B] _
grandchild _ someday
Would cross his path [D#m] [E] this way _ _
_ _ Stand here where his fallen comrades _ _ [F#] lay _ _ _ _
_ He'd [G#m] been dead [B] for a hundredth of a [G#m] cent
By _ [A#] [E] the time he [B] was born
_ _ _ [G#m]
[B] The mustard gas [G#m] which swept the [F#] trenches
[E] _ Ripped apart his [F#] _ lungs
Another [B] _ [F#] _ name [E] unknown _ [B] _ among millions there
[D#m] He [E] died _ and _ _ [F#] at last I understood [B] [F#] why old man
[B] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ I [E] _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ [E] _
_ [B] _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ [B] _
_ _ _ [E] _ _ walk _
_ [D] _ [E] _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [B] _
from Leith to Newton [G#m] _ _
[E] Grange
At the turn of the [B] year _
_ [F#] Through [B] desolate _ _ [E]
[B] communities and _ feasts
[D#m] Gaunt [E] with _ fear
[F#] Past bleak [B]
abandoned [E] pit [B] heads
Where rich scenes of coal [D#m] still _ [E] lie _ _
And at [F#] last I [B] understood why [F#]
old man
[B] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ My [F#] father [B] helped to [E] win [B] the coal
That [F#] lay beneath [G#m]
loathing [B] soil
A _ [F#] _
[B] life of bitter _ _ hardship
The reward for [D#m] years of [E] trying
But [A#m] he tried [B] to teach his _ [E]
[B] children
There was more to life [D#m] than [E] _ this
Working all your life
To make some fat [F#] cat rich
_ _ _ _ _ I [B] walked from [E] _ [G#m] Gareth to [B] _ [A#m] [G#m] Wallapaloo
[F#] [B] As [E] the dawn light kissed [B] the earth
_ [F#] And [B] breathed the awesome _
[E] _ [B] beauty
Of this land [D#m] that gave [E] me _ birth
[F#] And I looked [B] into the [E] _ [B] future
Saw people _ proud [D#] [E] and free _
As _ I looked [F#] along [B] Loch Brim
_ [F#] Out [E] to the sea _ _ _
_ [F#] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _