I Was Only 19

A

A               C          
Mum and Dad and Denny saw the 
   G            D             A
passing out parade at Puckapunyal
        G                 A
It was long march from cadets
     A                      C     
The sixth battalion was the next 
                  G                
to tour and it was me who drew the 
  D
card
        A                  G 
We did Canungra and Shoalwater 
             A
before we left


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


     A                  C         
From Vung Tau riding Chinooks to 
    G         D
the dust at Nui Dat
          A               G       
I'd been in and out of choppers 
       A
now for months
       A                 C        
And we made our tents a home, V.B.
        G             D
 and pinups on the lockers
        A              G          
And an Asian orange sunset through
      A
 the scrub


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     E                          
And can you tell me doctor why I 
  D                    A
still can't get to sleep?
     E                             
And night time's just a jungle dark
        D         A
 and a barking M.16?
    F#m                   E       
And what's this rash that comes 
                 D                
and goes, can you tell me what it 
A
means?
     E                     D
God help me, I was only nineteen


   A             C             
A four week operation, when each 
    G                    D
step can mean your last one
        A               G      
On two legs: it was a war within 
      A
yourself
        A                  C      
But you wouldn't let your mates 
              G               D
down 'til they had you dusted off
        A                      
So you closed your eyes and you 
  G                       A
thought about something else


          E                        
And then someone yelled out 
           D                 A
Contact, and the bloke behind me 
swore
    E                              
We hooked in there for hours, then 
   D             A
a God almighty roar
F#m                E             
Frankie kicked a mine the day 
    D                  A
that mankind kicked the moon
     E                       D
God help me, he was going home in 
June


Interlude:
A - C - G - D - A - G - A (2x)


A                C               
1 can still see Frankie, drinking
   G               D
 tinnies in the Grand Hotel
        A               G         
On a thirty-six hour rec leave in 
      A
Vung Tau
A                    C           
And I can still hear Frankie, 
    G                  D
lying screaming in the jungle
           A                   G  
'Till the morphine came and killed
             A
 the bloody row


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

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