Am Well mister I just overheard you talking through your drinkDm G How the Russians lie like rugs how they've pushed us to the brinkAm Em F G Now sit right here beside me I've an old man's tale to tellAm G Am How Yanks and Reds were friends once... at the ElbeAm G Am G C My name is Joe Polowski I hitched up in '41Dm G Left my sweetheart in Chicago and I learned to fire a gunAm Em F G The fog in the Ardennes so thick you could not see your noseAm G C D F G Am Nor the ghosts in the Belgian wood advancing through the snowAm G Am G C We left our dead behind us and we scaled the Dragon's TeethDm G With screaming mimis overhead not one of us could sleepAm Em F G Some fell to the enemy some fell to the creeping coldAm G C D F G Am And I killed a German sniper who was not fourteen years oldF Am When a soldier takes a hit my friend it ain't like HollywoodG Am G/B C Bone and guts go flying and everywhere there's bloodDm C For a moment he is mystified there must be some mistakeF E As it all drains out in a crimson lakeAm G Am G C Then April turned the weather and likewise the tide of warDm G As haggard hungry Germans surrendered by the scoreAm Em F G And thank god for the Russians who took the battle's bruntAm G C D F G Am And broke the back of the Wermacht along the eastern frontContinues after the adC G Then we saw a burst of lilacs and the river swift and wideAm Em And rest and welcome waiting for us on the other sideC F C G Am F C G And Yanks and Reds laughed out loud to be alive at the ElbeAm G Am G C We caught the glint of water and upon the distant shoreDm G Men and trucks and horses not German and not oursAm Em F G No bridge to cross but at the dock a boat securely tiedAm G C D F G Am We blew the chain and rowed like demons for the other sideAm G Am G C But when we stepped up on the land oh Jesus what a sightDm G Blackened bodies of civilians like driftwood piled highAm Em F G Cut down by stray artillery -- what the hell is it all forAm G C D F G Am We knelt and cursed the cruelty and madness men call warF Am Three Russians approached us, we shook hands and then embracedG Am G/B C Stalingrad had traced it's lines of sadness on their faceDm C Upon that field of corpses these weary happy menF E Swore an oath that it must never happen againAm G Am G C And then we wept and cheered and spoke in languages unknownDm G They poured us Russian vodka by god we drank it downAm Em F G We sang "The Volga Boatman" they sang "Tavern in the Town"Am G C D F G Am I never kissed so many men as on that afternoonC G When we saw a burst of lilacs and the river swift and wideAm Em And rest and welcome waiting for us on the other sideC F C G Am F C G And Yanks and Reds laughed out loud to be alive at the ElbeAm G Am G C But no sooner were we stateside than the cold war headlines readDm G Commies in the unions commies under every bedAm Em F G Hurrah the Nazi devil's down long live the devil RedAm G C D F G Am And not one word about the oath we swore amongst the deadAm G Am G C There are kids today who'll tell you we fought Russia in the warDm G There are armchair heroes set to settle some old scoreAm Em F G There are profiteers and pushers primed to send young men once moreAm G C D F G Am To blow themselves to glory on some godforsaken shoreF Am So drape my coffin with the flag of the good old USAG Am G/B C Let Yanks in army khaki and Reds in Russian grayDm C Lower me so gently into the German clayF E And speak again the oath we swore that dayC G When we saw a burst of lilacs and the river swift and wideAm Em And rest and welcome waiting for us on the other sideC F C G Am F C G And Yanks and Reds laughed out loud to be alive at the Elbe
At The Elbe
Fred Small
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