Redgum – I Was Only Nineteen chords

Redgum: I Was Only Nineteen (1983)
Intro: Am C G D  
       Am G Am


Am              C             G           D              Am         Mum and Dad and Denny saw the passing-out parade at Puckapunyal
              G             AmIt was a long march from cadets.
Am                          C                        G               DThe sixth battalion was the next to tour, and it was me who drew the card.
       Am             G               AmWe did Canungra, Shoalwater before we left. 

    E                                    D                   A     And Townsville lined the footpaths as we marched down to the quay
     E                                D                    AThis clipping from the paper shows us young and strong and clean.
    F#m              E                  D       AAnd there's me in my slouch hat with my SLR and greens.
    E                       DGod help me, I was only nineteen. 


     Am               C                G           DFrom Vung Tau, riding Chinooks, to the dust at Nui Dat
         Am            G                AmI'd been in and out of choppers now for months.
       Am               C            G             DBut we made our tents a home, VB and pinups on the lockers
       Am           G                  AmAnd an Asian orange sunset through the scrub. 


    E                              D                  AAnd can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't get to sleep?
    E                                     D         AAnd night-time's just a jungle dark and a barking M16?
    F#m                   E                       D               AAnd what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means?
    E                       DGod help me, I was only nineteen. 


  Am            C               G                    D               AmA four week operation when each step could mean your last one on two legs
         G              AmIt was a war within yourself.
        Am                C                   G              AmBut you wouldn't let your mates down til they had you dusted off
       Am                   G                       AmSo you closed your eyes and thought about something else. 


     E                                     D               AThen someone yelled out "Contact!" and the bloke behind me swore
   E                                 D           AWe hooked in there for hours, then a Godalmighty roar
F#m              E                 D                  AFrankie kicked a mine the day that mankind kicked the moon,
    E                             DGod help me, he was going home in June. 

Solo: Am C G D 
      Am G Am

Am              C                 G              GI can still see Frankie, drinking tinnies in the Grand Hotel
     Am              G                 AmOn a thirty-six hour rec leave in Vung Tau
    Am               C              G                DAnd I can still hear Frankie, lying screaming in the jungle
        Am                G                 AmTil the morphine came and killed the bloody row. 


        E                            D                 AAnd the Anzac legends didn't mention mud and blood and tears
        E                              D                  AAnd the stories that my father told me never seemed quite real.
  F#m                E               D             AI caught some pieces in my back that I didn't even feel
    E                       DGod help me, I was only nineteen. 


    E                            D                    AAnd can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't get to sleep?
    E                             D               AAnd why the Channel Seven chopper chills me to my feet?
    F#m                   E                       D               A    And what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means?
    E                       DGod help me, I was only nineteen. 

Outro: Am C G D 
       Am G Am