Born On The Fourth Of July

Here are the chords and words to the Tom Paxton song "Born on the fourth

of July", written about the Viet Nam veteran Ron Kovic, who was

paralysed in the war. It is based on Kovic's autobiography of the same

name, which in turn has been made into a film starring Tom Cruise. I

thought that if you're going to bother having any Tom Paxton on your

guitar file you might at least have one of his better, though less

well-known songs, instead of just rubbish like the Marvellous Toy.

Born On The Fourth Of July - Tom Paxton

 

 

As a schoolboy I played with a plastic grenade

It was grey and with caps it was loaded

In the dirt we would cry and dramatically die

As it flew through the air and exploded

As a young man my dream was to be a marine

My flag was worth all I could bring it

The country was young. When the anthem was sung

It gave me the goosebumps to sing it

I was born on the fourth of July

No-one more loyal than I

When my country said so I was ready to go

And I wish I'd been left there to die

When I landed in Nam I was with Uncle Sam

I was fighting for God and my mother

And I knew what to do when my first tour was through

I signed up and went back for another

But it all tumbled down when we ambushed the town

In the night how the metal was flying

We blew it to hell. Really did our job well,

But just women and kids did the dying

I was born on the fourth of July

No-one more loyal than I

When my country said so I was ready to go

And I wish I'd been left there to die

In the damn DMZ it all ended for me

The fighting broke out and we scattered

One shot hit my heel, the last thing I feel

The next hit my spine and it shattered

In my hospital bed I could hear what was said

And the word will stay with me forever

With my whole life ahead, my body was dead

And the word they were using was never

Now I wheel myself down to the crossroads of town

To see the young girls and their lovers

And my mind is afire, it's alive with desire

Christ, I'd barely begun, now it's over

In my wheelchair for life, my mechanical wife

I'm supposed to be cheerful and stoic

I'm your old tried-and-true, Yankee Doodle to you

Clean-cut, paralysed and heroic

Chords and words transcribed by David Linley <dal23@hermes.cam.ac.uk>

Please send any comments or mistakes to me.