Am    C          F
I got drafted at nineteen
G                           F
Me and a bunch of boys from home
Am  C   F     C
January forty-three,
D                                  F
drove out to Pine Bluff and signed on

Am      C              F
Went to basic south of Birmingham
G                          F
Put me on west coast bound train
Am          C           F     C
Spent three days out in San Diego
D                             F
And they shipped me back east again


Am     C           F
Left a port out of New York
G                           F
Slept for months in British rain
Am      C          F      C
Tore it up down in London town
D                            F
And they shipped me back out again


C                 G           F           C
The preacher said Boys he who is killed tonight
     D                        F
will dine with the Lord in Paradise
C             G        F             C
One boy spoke up, said preacher come on
D                    F
eat your supper with us


Am    C               F
Never talk about those first days
G                      F
Lots of friends left behind
Am    C               F          C
But I made it all the way across France
D                           F
And I fought at the Maginot line

Am     C         F
Road a tank into Belgium
G                          F
Liked them better than the French
Am      C      F              C
Like my daddy, thirty years before
D                   F
I did my time in a trench

Am      C               F
Lots of days there's no water
G                      F
But the liquor kept me warm
Am               C                F             C
The cellars were stocked to their ceilings with booze
D                             F
So I carried a bottle with my gun


C                 G           F           C
The preacher said Boys he who is killed tonight
     D                        F
will dine with the Lord in Paradise
C             G        F             C
One boy spoke up, said preacher come on
D                    F
eat your supper with us


Am    C             F
Three times I made sergeant
G                    F
I'm not that kind of man
Am         C            F          C
And pretty much just as quick as I could
D                             F
I get busted back to private again


Am           C            F
Cause taking orders never suited me
G                      F
Giving them out was much worse
Am      C            F              C
I could not stand to get my friends killed
D                        F
So I took care of myself first

Am    C               F
Now I know that don't sound right
G                      F
Don't think too bad of me
Am     C        F         C
Now it keeps me up nights
D                             F
What I could have done differently


C                 G           F           C
The preacher said Boys he who is killed tonight
     D                        F
will dine with the Lord in Paradise
C             G        F             C
One boy spoke up, said preacher come on
D                    F
eat your supper with us


C         G            F            C
I'd be no guest at the table of the Lord
D                      F
His food was not to be mine
C                  G          F             C
Cause I cursed His name every chance that I could
D                                F
And I recon that's why I'm still alive