C    Em    F    G
C    Em    F    G

[Verse 1]
     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

[Chorus]
      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

[Verse 2]
     C                         Em
When I landed in Nam I was with Uncle Sam
       F             G           C
I was fighting for God and my mother
       F                        C         Am
And I knew what to do when my first tour was through
      F                G         C
I signed up and went back for another
     E                         Am
But it all tumbled down when we ambushed the town
   F                          G
In the night how the metal was flying
    C                           Em
We blew it to hell. Really did our job well,
   F           G             C
But just women and kids did the dying

[Chorus]
      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

[Verse 3]
     C                         Em
In the damn DMZ it all ended for me
       F             G           C
The fighting broke out and we scattered
       F                        C         Am
One shot hit my heel, the last thing I feel
      F                G         C
The next hit my spine and it shattered
     E                         Am
In my hospital bed I could hear what was said
   F                          G
And the word will stay with me forever
    C                           Em
With my whole life ahead, my body was dead
   F           G             C
And the word they were using was never

[Verse 4]
     C                         Em
Now I wheel myself down to the crossroads of town
       F             G           C
To see the young girls and their lovers
       F                        C         Am
And my mind is afire, it's alive with desire
      F                G         C
Christ, I'd barely begun, now it's over
     E                         Am
In my wheelchair for life, my mechanical wife
   F                          G
I'm supposed to be cheerful and stoic
    C                           Em
I'm your old tried-and-true, Yankee Doodle to you
   F           G             C
Clean-cut, paralysed and heroic