The Gift Of Years chords by Eric Bogle

Chords with lyrics

Tuning: Standard (E MajorE A augmentedA D MajorD G+G BB E MajorE)

Eric Bogle - The Gift of Years
From the album: Voices in the Wilderness (1990)


Verse 1:

D MajorD         G+G      A7A7        D MajorD
Well, old friend, here I am, I told you I'd be back
             G+G        A7A7        D MajorD
And as usual mate, I'm bloody late; it's 75 years down the track
          G+G        A7A7       D MajorD
For the last time here I stand in this familiar foreign land
            G+G          A7A7       D MajorD
Back with the mates I left behind, fixed forever in their time

Verse 2:
 D MajorD           G+G        A7A7        D MajorD
And all the ghosts, of all the boys who haunt this lonely place
               G+G          A7A7        D MajorD
Only one of them wears your cheery grin & your Queensland joker's face
             G+G        A7A7          D MajorD
But I drown in all the bloody dreams of helpless young men's dying screams
             G+G         A7A7         D MajorD
I feel your hand give my arm a shake & your voice say "steady, mate"


Verse 3:
 D MajorD            G+G          A7A7       D MajorD
And the country that you died for, mate, you would not know it now
            G+G           A7A7       D MajorD
The future that we dreamed of, mate, got all twisted up somehow
             G+G        A7A7        D MajorD
The peace that we were fighting for, the end to stupid senseless war
        G+G         A7A7          D MajorD
So it couldn't happen to our kids - well old mate, it did


Verse 4:

 D MajorD           G+G         A7A7         D MajorD
But thank you for the gift of years & the flame that brightly burned
                 G+G            A7A7    D MajorD
For the time you bought & the lessons taught, tho' often wasted & unlearned
             G+G     A7A7      D MajorD
"Lest we forget" cry the multitudes, as if I ever ever could
             G+G     A7A7        D MajorD
So forgive an old man's tears, & thank you for the years