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Volunteers by Mark Erelli
Volunteers
CAPO: 4th fret
[Intro]
Am F C G F
[Verse 1]
C F C
I played with army men as a boy in my backyard
G
I was eighteen when I joined the National Guard
F C
I cakewalked basic, and they paid for my degree
F G
All for filling up sandbags and clearing storm debris
[Verse 2]
Am F C
And I had just re-upped on the base in my hometown
G
When the whole deal changed on the day that the planes went down
Em F
Just a casual soldier, twelve weekends a year
C G C F Am G
I was Baghdad bound when they called up the volunteers
[Verse 3]
C F C
We’d seen more than enough to know war is hell
G
But we were thinking that we had it made once the capital fell
F C
So we partied in the palaces and waited to withdraw
F G
'Til things started going south both sides of the wall
[Verse 4]
Am F C
First the looting, the suicide bombers and the IED's
G
Then the prisons and the torture and all those pictures on TV
Em F
The kickbacks, the blackouts, the martyrs and the fear
C G C F Am G
And now everyone in Babylon blames the volunteers
[Verse 5]
C F C
There was a roadside bomb on a convoy late one night
G
I was fine, but this buddy of mine probably should have died
F C
So they radioed a medevac and I tried to keep him warm
F G
Now he’s back home learning how to feed himself with two new arms
[Verse 6]
Am F C
And all the others, they suffer from wounds that you can’t see
G
So they try to forget and go back home to their jobs and their families
Em F
Yeah we got paid, no one made us come over here
C G F
But it ain't close to an even trade for the volunteers
[Instrumental]
Am C G Am F C G F
[Verse 7]
C F C
Maybe we’ll all be judged by history and god
G
Maybe the best way to honour the departed is to finish the job
F C
But while they argue who is winning and whether we should go or stay
F G
Over here it’s a victory just to make it through another day
[Verse 8]
Am F C
And me I’m long past making any sense of the blood I've spilled
G
But it's hard to believe this is all part of any God’s will
Em F
And if you find I’ve fallen after all the smoke has cleared
C G Am
Let the record show I volunteered
C G Am
Let the record show I volunteered
[Outro]
F Am G Am F C G C
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