Tom: C5 C5 F5 They say immigrants steal the hubcaps D5 A5 Of the respected gentlemen F5 They say it would be wine an' roses D5 C5 If England were for Englishmen again C5 Well I saw a dirty overcoat A5 At the foot of the pillar of the road G5 Propped inside was an old man A5 Whom time would not erode C5 When the night was snapped by sirens A5 Those blue lights circled fast G5 The dancehall called for an' ambulance A5 The bars all closed up fast My silence gazing at the ceiling While roaming the single room I thought the old man could help me If he could explain the gloom You really think it's all new You really think about it too The old man scoffed as he spoke to me I'll tell you athing or two C5 F5 I missed the fourteen-eighteen war A5 E5 A5 But not the sorrow afterwards D5 F5 With my father dead and my mother ran off C5 G5 My brothers took the pay of hoods The twenties turned the north was dead The hunger strike came marching south At the garden party not a word was said The ladies lifted cake to their mouths C5 The next war began and my ship sailed A5 With battle orders writ in bed G5 In five long years of bullets and shells A5 We left tem million dead C5 The few returned to old Piccadily A5 We limped around Leicster Square G5 The world was busy rebuilding itself A5 The architects could not care But how could we know when I was young All the canges that were to come? All the photos in the wallets on the battlefield And now the terror of the scientific sun There was masters an' servants an' servants an' dogs They taught you how to touch your cap But through strikes an' famine an' war an' peace England never closed this gap C5 F5 So leave me now the moon is up A5 E5 A5 But remember all the tales I tell D5 F5 The memories that you have dredged up C5 Are on letters forwarded from hell The streets were by now deserted The gangs had trudged off home The lights clicked off in the bedsits An' old England was all alone
