Tom: E
E A C#m
I wanna be in the cavalry if they send me off to war
A E E B7 E
I wanna good steed under me like my forefathers before
[Verse 1]
E A C#m
Courageous at first we took their worst, our positions we held stout
A E E E B7
We clung to belief and we hung on the speech from our trusted leaders' mouths
E A C#m
Overwhelming odds and a hopeless cause and our cities overrun
A E E B7 E
There were them that said we was badly led and God were we outgunned
[Verse 2]
E A C#m
I lost count of the worthy mounts that from under me were cut
A E E E B7
My favourite mare with her head in the air took the cannon in her gut
E A C#m
In the first two weeks on that bloody creek my brother lost his arm
A E E B7 E
Was only sixty days till all we prayed us to get us home unharmed
[Verse 3]
E A C#m
O for the day that we signed our names and the well that we were wished
A E E E B7
The men's congrats and the pats on the backs and the ladies that we kissed
E A C#m
The band that played and the grande parade and the patriotic shouts
A E E B7 E
All faded fast, didn't even last till the uniforms wore out
[Verse 4]
E A C#m
And there were none to replace nor to help us face the winters cold and bleak
A E E E B7
That chilled to the bone the pneumonia prone and froze our bootless feet
E A C#m
Then the typhoid hit with its fevered fits, TB and dysentery
A E E B7 E
That prove in the end to have killed more men than the vilest enemy
[Verse 5]
E A C#m
We were finally forced to feed on horse and carcass we could scrounge
A E E E B7
When the wagons stopped and we'd burnt their crops to tarred and barren ground
E A C#m
With morale in doubt and our pride run out no honour did I see
A E E B7 E
All I seen were a thousand dreams piled dead in front of me
[Ending]
E A C#m
I wanna be in the cavalry if they send me off to war
A E E B7 E
I wanna be in the cavalry but I won't ride home no more
