Chords for The Dubliners - The Old Man's Song

_ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ [Em] _ _ [C] _ [Em] _ [Am] _ _
_ _ At the turning [G] of the century, I was a boy [Am] of five.
_ Me father went to fight the wars, [G] and he never came [Cm] back [E] alive. _
All [Am] me mother was left to bring us up, [Em] and no charity [Am] she'd seek.
_ So she washed and scrubbed [G] and scraped along, _ on seven and six [Am] a week.
_ _ When I was [G] twelve I left the school, _ and I went to find [Am] a job.
_ _ And with growing kids me ma was glad [G] of the extra couple [C] of [E] bob.
_ _ [Am] I'm sure that longer schooling _ [Em] would have stood me in [Am] good stead.
_ But you can't [G] afford refinement _ _ when you're struggling for [Am] your bread.
_ _ _ _ And when the Great [G] War came [Em] along, _ I didn't [Am] hesitate. _
_ _ I took the Royal Shilling and [G] went off to [C] do me bit.
[E] _ _ _
[Am] We fought in mud and tears and blood, [Em] three years or [Am] thereabout.
_ Till I copped some gas [G] in Flanders, [Em] and was invalided [Am] out. _ _ _
And when the war [G] was over, _ and we'd finished [Am] with the guns,
_ _ _ We got back into civvies, cause [G] we thought the fighting done.
[E] _ _ _ _ [Am] We'd won the right to live in peace, [Em] but we didn't have [Am] such luck.
_ But soon we [G] found we had to fight _ [Em] for the right to go [Am] to work. _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ [Em] _
_ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _
In twenty-six the [G] general strike _ [E] saw me out [Am] on the streets.
_ And I'd a wife and kids by then, [G] and their needs I [C] had to meet.
[Bm] _ _ For the [Am] brave new world was coming, and the brotherhood of man. _
_ And when the strike was [G] over, _ [Em] we were back [Am] where we began. _ _
_ Oh, I struggled [G] through the thirties, [Am] out of work now and again.
_ I saw the black shirts marching, [G] and the things they did [C] in [Bm] Spain.
_ _ _ [Am] I brought me kids up decent, [Em] and I taught them [Am] wrong from right.
_ Oh, but Hitler was [G] the boy that came, _ [Em] and he taught them _ [Am] how to fight.
_ _ _ Me daughter was a [G] land girl, _ she [Em] got married to a Yank.
[Am] _
_ _ _ And they gave me son a medal [G] for stopping one of Rommel's [E] tanks. _ _
_ _ [Am] He was wounded just [F] before the end, _ [Em] and he convalesced in [Am] Rome. _ _
[Em] And he went and married an Italian nurse, and he never bothered to come home. _ _ _ _
[Am] _ _ _ _ Oh, me daughter [G] writes me once a month, a cheerful little [Am] note, _ _
About their colored tellies, and [G] the other things [C] they've got.
[E] _ _ _ [Am] They've got a son, a likely lad, _ [Em] he's nearly [Am] twenty-one.
_ _ But they tell me now he's [G] being called up to [Em] fight _ in [Am] Vietnam.
_ _ _ _ Oh, we're living on the [G] pension now, and it doesn't [Am] go too far.
_ _ Not much to show for a life that seems [G] like one long [C] bloody [E] war.
_ _ _ [Am] And when you think of all the wasted lives, [Em] it makes you want [Am] to cry.
_ _ [E] I'm not sure [Am] how to [G] change things, _ [Abm] but by Christ, we'll have to try. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [N] _ _ _