C F
They say immigrants steal the hubcaps
Am
Of the respected gentlemen
F
They say it would be wine an' roses
D C
If England were for Englishmen again
C
Well I saw a dirty overcoat
Am
At the foot of the pillar of the road
G7
Propped inside was an old man
Am
Whom time would not erode
C
When the night was snapped by sirens
Am
Those blue lights circled fast
G7
The dancehall called for an' ambulance
Am
The bars all closed up fast
My silence gazing at the ceiling
C F
I missed the fourteen-eighteen war
Am Em Am
But not the sorrow afterwards
Dm F
With my father dead and my mother ran off
C G
My brothers took the pay of hoods
The twenties turned the north was dead
C
The next war began and my ship sailed
Am
With battle orders writ in bed
G7
In five long years of bullets and shells
Am
We left tem million dead
C
The few returned to old Piccadily
Am
We limped around Leicster Square
G7
The world was busy rebuilding itself
Am
The architects could not care
But how could we know when I was young
C F
So leave me now the moon is up
AmEm
But remember all the tales I tell
Dm F
The memories that you have dredged up
C
Are on letters forwarded from hell
The streets were by now deserted