I Was Only Nineteen

Red Gum

Mum and Dad and Denny
saw the passing out parade
at Puckapunyal

(from cadets)
The Sixth Batalion was
the next to tour

and it was me who drew the card
We did Canungra and Shoal
water before we left

Townsville lined up the footpaths
as we marched down to the quay
This clipping from the paper

shows the young and strong and clean
And there's me in my slouch hat
with my S. L. R. and greens

God help me
I was only nineteen

From Vung Tau riding Chinooks
to the dust of Nui Dat
I'd been in and out of choppers

now for months
But we made our tents a home,
V. B., and pinups on the lockers

And an Asian orange sunset
through the scrub

And can you tell me doctor,
Why I still can't get to sleep?
And night time's just a jungle

dark and a barking M sixteen?
And what's this rash that
comes and goes

can you tell me what it means?
God help me
I was only nineteen

A four week operation
when each step can mean your last one
on two legs; It was a war

within yourself
But you wouldn't let your mates down
'til they had you dusted off

So you closed your eyes
and thought about something else

Then someone yelled out "Contact!,
and the bloke behind me swore
We hooked in there for hours,

then a God almighty roar
Frankie kicked a mine
the day that mankind kicked the moon

God help me
He was going home in June

I can still see Frankie drinking
tinnies in the Grand Hotel
On a Thirty six hour rec. leave

in Vung Tau.
And I can still hear Frankie
lying screaming in the jungle

'Til the morphine came
and killed the bloody row.

And the Anzac legends
didn't mention mud and blood and tears
And the stories that my father told

me never seemed quite real
I caught some pieces in my back
that I didn't even feel

God help me
I was only nineteen

And can you tell me doctor,
Why I still can't get to sleep?
And why the Channel Seven chopper

chills me to my feet?
And what's this rash that
comes and goes

can you tell me what it means?
God help me
I was only nineteen

Soft karaoke
Words
Bass    (BB)
Drums   (BB)
Piano   (BB)
Guitar  (BB)
Strings (BB)
Voice 1 (Melody)
Soloist (BB) (none)
Melody Harmony (below)
Floyd Cramer Piano
Voice 1 (Melody)
Voice 2 (Harmony)