A
[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
A
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