Tablature born on the fourth of july - Tom Paxton

          



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  Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 21:29:31 +0000 (GMT)

  From: "Rev. Linda Slug" <dal23@hermes.cam.ac.uk>

  Subject: Born on the 4th July 

  

  

  Here are the chords and words to the Tom Paxton song "Born on the fourth 

  of July", written about the Viet Nam veteran Ron Kovic, who was 

  paralysed in the war. It is based on Kovic's autobiography of the same 

  name, which in turn has been made into a film starring Tom Cruise. I 

  thought that if you're going to bother having any Tom Paxton on your 

  guitar file you might at least have one of his better, though less 

  well-known songs, instead of just rubbish like the Marvellous Toy.

  

  Born On The Fourth Of July - Tom Paxton

  

  

  C	Em	F	G

  

  C	Em	F	G

  

       C                         Em     

  As a schoolboy I played with a plastic grenade 

         F             G           C 

  It was grey and with caps it was loaded

         F                        C         Am

  In the dirt we would cry and dramatically die

        F                G         C

  As it flew through the air and exploded

       E                         Am      

  As a young man my dream was to be a marine

     F                          G

  My flag was worth all I could bring it

      C                           Em 

  The country was young. When the anthem was sung

     F           G             C 

  It gave me the goosebumps to sing it

  

  

  

        F                       C  

  I was born on the fourth of July

  F                      G

  No-one more loyal than I

          C                     Em

  When my country said so I was ready to go

        F             G             C

  And I wish I'd been left there to die

  

  Em 	F	 G

  

  

  When I landed in Nam I was with Uncle Sam

  I was fighting for God and my mother

  And I knew what to do when my first tour was through

  I signed up and went back for another

  But it all tumbled down when we ambushed the town

  In the night how the metal was flying

  We blew it to hell. Really did our job well,

  But just women and kids did the dying

  

  I was born on the fourth of July

  No-one more loyal than I

  When my country said so I was ready to go

  And I wish I'd been left there to die

  

  In the damn DMZ it all ended for me 

  The fighting broke out and we scattered

  One shot hit my heel, the last thing I feel

  The next hit my spine and it shattered

  In my hospital bed I could hear what was said

  And the word will stay with me forever

  With my whole life ahead, my body was dead

  And the word they were using was never

  

  

  Now I wheel myself down to the crossroads of town

  To see the young girls and their lovers

  And my mind is afire, it's alive with desire

  Christ, I'd barely begun, now it's over

  In my wheelchair for life, my mechanical wife

  I'm supposed to be cheerful and stoic

  I'm your old tried-and-true, Yankee Doodle to you

  Clean-cut, paralysed and heroic

  

  

  Chords and words transcribed by David Linley <dal23@hermes.cam.ac.uk>

  Please send any comments or mistakes to me.

  

  

   


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 Born on the fourth of july, de Tom paxton 

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