Tom: Am
C Em F G
C Em F G
[Verse 1]
C Em
As a schoolboy I played with a plastic grenade
F G C
It was grey and with caps it was loaded
F C Am
In the dirt we would cry and dramatically die
F G C
As it flew through the air and exploded
E Am
As a young man my dream was to be a marine
F G
My flag was worth all I could bring it
C Em
The country was young. When the anthem was sung
F G C
It gave me the goosebumps to sing it
[Chorus]
F C
I was born on the fourth of July
F G
No one more loyal than I
C Em
When my country said so I was ready to go
F G C
And I wish I'd been left there to die
Em F G
[Verse 2]
C Em
When I landed in Nam I was with Uncle Sam
F G C
I was fighting for God and my mother
F C Am
And I knew what to do when my first tour was through
F G C
I signed up and went back for another
E Am
But it all tumbled down when we ambushed the town
F G
In the night how the metal was flying
C Em
We blew it to hell. Really did our job well,
F G C
But just women and kids did the dying
[Chorus]
F C
I was born on the fourth of July
F G
No one more loyal than I
C Em
When my country said so I was ready to go
F G C
And I wish I'd been left there to die
[Verse 3]
C Em
In the damn DMZ it all ended for me
F G C
The fighting broke out and we scattered
F C Am
One shot hit my heel, the last thing I feel
F G C
The next hit my spine and it shattered
E Am
In my hospital bed I could hear what was said
F G
And the word will stay with me forever
C Em
With my whole life ahead, my body was dead
F G C
And the word they were using was never
[Verse 4]
C Em
Now I wheel myself down to the crossroads of town
F G C
To see the young girls and their lovers
F C Am
And my mind is afire, it's alive with desire
F G C
Christ, I'd barely begun, now it's over
E Am
In my wheelchair for life, my mechanical wife
F G
I'm supposed to be cheerful and stoic
C Em
I'm your old tried-and-true, Yankee Doodle to you
F G C
Clean-cut, paralysed and heroic
