Kokoda chords by Slim Dusty

Tuning: Standard (E A D G B E)

Intro:
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Verse 1:
        A                  D                  E              A
With no shouldered arms or bayonet fixed they march on Anzac Day
D                  E                        E
Measured tramp of steel-shod heels a memory away
A             D              E               A
Veterans of a jungle war who went to hell and back
E                                  D            A
Those ragged bloody heroes of that grim Kokoda track

Verse 2:
A                    D             E        A
So dig your reversed rifles in the mire of memory
     E                                      A
The swirling mists of time have healed the scars
     A                   D          E                A
You climbed that golden stairway to keep our country free
           D                E                 A
Where the jungle hid your nightmare from the stars
     E                                   A
When sullen days brought no relief from blood, muck, and mire
    D               A                E
And death was ever striding at your back
     A                                            D
You trod that hallowed path to be baptized in hellfire
    A                            E            A
The ragged bloody heroes of that grim Kokoda track

Chorus:
        E                                A
Oh, the devil took the hindmost and the snipers took the fore
        D                 A                          E
With no quarter asked or given in that muddy, bloody war
           A                                            D
With black angels there to guide them, salvoes by their side
      D              A            E                       A
Those ragged bloody heroes simply marched and fought and died

Instrumental break:
A D A E A

Verse 3:
A                 D              E            A
Astride a broken mountaintop you stood defiantly
       E                               A
As the devil took your comrades one by one
    A              D               E          A
He taunted you and beckoned you to face eternity
      D            E                A
You saluted with a burning Thompson gun
     E                                A
His hand was on your shoulder like a burning grip of steel
         D                  A               E
But you turned him and you fought off his attack
    A                                                        D
You broke the devil's squadrons and you brought him to your heel
A                                E            A
The ragged bloody heroes of that grim Kokoda track

Chorus:
        E                                A
Oh, the devil took the hindmost and the snipers took the fore
        D                A                           E
With no quarter asked or given in that muddy, bloody war
       A                                                   D
While politicians pondered and great generals swelled with pride
      D              A            E                      A
Those ragged bloody heroes simply marched and fought and died

Verse 4:
         A                 D                  E              A
With no shouldered arms or bayonet fixed they march on Anzac Day
         D         A                                     E
With the memory of white crosses, mounds of fresh-turned clay
   A                  D                 E          A
Of green fields and a bugle call and a solemn requiem
           Asus                                    E7                     A
And at the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them

Outro:
      E                            D           A
Those ragged bloody heroes of that grim Kokoda track
      E                            D           A
Those ragged bloody heroes of that grim Kokoda track

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