Chords for Johnny Cash - That Ragged Old Flag
Tempo:
134.15 bpm
Chords used:
Bb
F
C
Eb
D
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Jam Along & Learn...
John, how do you feel about burning the flag?
feel like we should have a law against burning [C] the flag?
An amendment, if you will?
Yeah, I do.
see somebody here about burning the flag,
I think about the time that June and I went to Vietnam in 1969
[B] and saw the burning [Bb] flesh.
[Eb] coming in from the [Db] helicopters on the stretchers with the flesh burn,
feel like we should have a law against burning [C] the flag?
An amendment, if you will?
Yeah, I do.
see somebody here about burning the flag,
I think about the time that June and I went to Vietnam in 1969
[B] and saw the burning [Bb] flesh.
[Eb] coming in from the [Db] helicopters on the stretchers with the flesh burn,
100% ➙ 134BPM
Bb
F
C
Eb
D
Bb
F
C
_ _ _ _ John, how do you feel about _ burning the flag?
_ Do you feel like we should have _ _ a law against burning [C] the flag? _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ An amendment, if you will?
_ _ _ Yeah. _
Yeah, I do.
_ _ _ [Eb] When I see somebody here about burning the flag, _
I think about the time that June and I went to _ Vietnam _ in 1969
[B] and saw the burning [Bb] flesh.
_ [E] The boys [Eb] coming in from the [Db] helicopters on the stretchers with the _ flesh burn,
falling off from the napalm on their bodies.
_ _ _ And you never forget the [D] smell of that.
_ [A] But anyway, back to the flag.
_ _ _ I think [B] of that, whether we were, you know, whether the Vietnam War [C] was right or not,
_ there are a lot of people who sacrificed their lives for it
and their time and their [F] brains. _ _ _ _
_ And _ whether or not we were right in being there when we went, that wasn't the issue.
It's that _ Americans were [Eb] there dying for [Db] me and _ _ dying for that flag. _ _ _
So, you know, I think if you're going to burn the American [D] flag, you ought to take it to [Bb] Iran.
_ _ _ But I still [Eb] cherish those freedoms, you know. _
Like, if I got a week off next week, I can go and do anything I want to in this United States.
_ [F] _
And there's not many countries you can [Gb] do that in.
And I cherish all of the freedoms that we got, including the freedom, [E] the right to burn the flag.
But I also got [Eb] the right to bear arms, and if you burn mine, I'll [C] shoot you. _
_ _ John, you wrote a song once, and I think you may have written it while you were in the Air Force,
called [F] Ragged Old Flag.
No, I wrote that in 1975.
Did you?
Mm-hmm.
In Binghamton, New York.
_ _ I saw you do it _ [N] on the 4th of July, _ several years ago, at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Could you do it for us right now?
Ragged Old Flag. _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] I walked through a county [D] courthouse square, _ and on a park bench, an old man was sitting there. _
_ I said, your old courthouse is kind of run down.
He said, no, that'll do for our little town. _ _
I said, your old flagpole's kind of leaned a little bit, and that's a ragged old flag you got hanging on it.
_ [Bb] He said, have a seat.
And I said, now, is this the first time you've come to our little town?
I said, I think it is.
He said, I don't like to brag, but _ we're kind of proud of that _ _ ragged old flag. _ _ _ _
You see, we got a little hole in that flag there when Washington took it across the Delaware.
_ _ And it got powder burned the night Frances Scott Key set up watching it right in _ Sakin, you see. _ _ _
_ Got a little rip in New Orleans with Packingham and Jackson tugging at it, it seems.
_ It almost fell at the Alamo [F] beside the Texas flag, but she waved on, though.
_ [C] It got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville.
_ Got cut again at Shiloh Hill.
There was Robert E.
[B] Lee, Beauregard, and [E] Bragg, and the south wind blew hard on that [Abm] _ ragged old flag. _
_ _ _ On Flanders Field in World War I, _ she took a bad hit from a Bertha gun.
_ She turned blood red [C] in World War [Bb] II.
She hung [A] limp and [Bb] low by [Db] the time that one was through.
[Bb] _ She was in Korea, _ Vietnam.
_ [D] She went where she was sent by her Uncle Sam.
_ [A] The Native American Indians, [Abm] the blacks, the yellow, the [D] white, all shed red blood for the Stars and Stripes.
_ _ And in her own good land here, she's been abused.
_ [Gb] She's been burned, dishonored, denied, refused.
And the very government for which she [Bb] stands _ is scandalized throughout the land.
And she's getting threadbare.
_ [Abm] She's wearing kind of thin. _
_ _ [Bb] _ But she's in good shape for the shape she's in.
Because she's been through the fire before, and she can take a whole lot more.
So we raise her up every morning, [B] and we bring her down slowly every night.
We don't let her touch the ground, and we [F] fold her up right. _ _ _ _
On second [Dm] thought, _ I guess I do like [F] to brag.
[Db] Because I'm mighty proud of [G] that _ ragged old flag.
[Bb] _ _ _ _ _
_ Do you feel like we should have _ _ a law against burning [C] the flag? _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ An amendment, if you will?
_ _ _ Yeah. _
Yeah, I do.
_ _ _ [Eb] When I see somebody here about burning the flag, _
I think about the time that June and I went to _ Vietnam _ in 1969
[B] and saw the burning [Bb] flesh.
_ [E] The boys [Eb] coming in from the [Db] helicopters on the stretchers with the _ flesh burn,
falling off from the napalm on their bodies.
_ _ _ And you never forget the [D] smell of that.
_ [A] But anyway, back to the flag.
_ _ _ I think [B] of that, whether we were, you know, whether the Vietnam War [C] was right or not,
_ there are a lot of people who sacrificed their lives for it
and their time and their [F] brains. _ _ _ _
_ And _ whether or not we were right in being there when we went, that wasn't the issue.
It's that _ Americans were [Eb] there dying for [Db] me and _ _ dying for that flag. _ _ _
So, you know, I think if you're going to burn the American [D] flag, you ought to take it to [Bb] Iran.
_ _ _ But I still [Eb] cherish those freedoms, you know. _
Like, if I got a week off next week, I can go and do anything I want to in this United States.
_ [F] _
And there's not many countries you can [Gb] do that in.
And I cherish all of the freedoms that we got, including the freedom, [E] the right to burn the flag.
But I also got [Eb] the right to bear arms, and if you burn mine, I'll [C] shoot you. _
_ _ John, you wrote a song once, and I think you may have written it while you were in the Air Force,
called [F] Ragged Old Flag.
No, I wrote that in 1975.
Did you?
Mm-hmm.
In Binghamton, New York.
_ _ I saw you do it _ [N] on the 4th of July, _ several years ago, at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Could you do it for us right now?
Ragged Old Flag. _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] I walked through a county [D] courthouse square, _ and on a park bench, an old man was sitting there. _
_ I said, your old courthouse is kind of run down.
He said, no, that'll do for our little town. _ _
I said, your old flagpole's kind of leaned a little bit, and that's a ragged old flag you got hanging on it.
_ [Bb] He said, have a seat.
And I said, now, is this the first time you've come to our little town?
I said, I think it is.
He said, I don't like to brag, but _ we're kind of proud of that _ _ ragged old flag. _ _ _ _
You see, we got a little hole in that flag there when Washington took it across the Delaware.
_ _ And it got powder burned the night Frances Scott Key set up watching it right in _ Sakin, you see. _ _ _
_ Got a little rip in New Orleans with Packingham and Jackson tugging at it, it seems.
_ It almost fell at the Alamo [F] beside the Texas flag, but she waved on, though.
_ [C] It got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville.
_ Got cut again at Shiloh Hill.
There was Robert E.
[B] Lee, Beauregard, and [E] Bragg, and the south wind blew hard on that [Abm] _ ragged old flag. _
_ _ _ On Flanders Field in World War I, _ she took a bad hit from a Bertha gun.
_ She turned blood red [C] in World War [Bb] II.
She hung [A] limp and [Bb] low by [Db] the time that one was through.
[Bb] _ She was in Korea, _ Vietnam.
_ [D] She went where she was sent by her Uncle Sam.
_ [A] The Native American Indians, [Abm] the blacks, the yellow, the [D] white, all shed red blood for the Stars and Stripes.
_ _ And in her own good land here, she's been abused.
_ [Gb] She's been burned, dishonored, denied, refused.
And the very government for which she [Bb] stands _ is scandalized throughout the land.
And she's getting threadbare.
_ [Abm] She's wearing kind of thin. _
_ _ [Bb] _ But she's in good shape for the shape she's in.
Because she's been through the fire before, and she can take a whole lot more.
So we raise her up every morning, [B] and we bring her down slowly every night.
We don't let her touch the ground, and we [F] fold her up right. _ _ _ _
On second [Dm] thought, _ I guess I do like [F] to brag.
[Db] Because I'm mighty proud of [G] that _ ragged old flag.
[Bb] _ _ _ _ _