G                                 C
I was only a boy when the village I fled,
    C                             D           G
To some southern flung place all about I had read,
        G                               C
I said give me a year and I’ll return again,
        C                             D           G
Then a year turned to two and then two turned to ten,

                     C  Bm                D
Oh and seventeen summers I gave to this city,
            C  Bm                     D
With many a lover that came and then went,
                          C  Bm                    D
All the friends and the stories, I think of them dearly,
    G              C             D              G           G,C,D,G
On these rotten streets my best days have been spent,


   G                               C
I was only a boy when to London I came,
    C                       D        G
Chancing my luck on some fortune or fame,
       G                                 C
Well still they removed me, but still I remain,
       C                   D              G
That dirty old river, it runs through my veins,


                     C  Bm                D
Oh and seventeen summers I gave to this city,
            C  Bm                     D
With many a lover that came and then went,
                          C  Bm                    D
All the friends and the stories, I think of them dearly,
    G              C             D              G           G,C,D,G
On these rotten streets my best days have been spent,


INSTRUMENTAL

                     C  Bm                D
Oh and seventeen summers I gave to this city,
            C  Bm                     D
With many a lover that came and then went,
                          C  Bm                    D
All the friends and the stories, I think of them dearly,
    G              C             D              G         
On these rotten streets my best days have been spent,
    G              C             D              G 
On these rotten streets my best days have been spent.