The Captain

A                 E 
Now the Captain called me to his bed 
    D              A 
He fumbled for my hand 
 D                 A 
Take these silver bars, he said 
      E           A 
I'm giving you command. 
   A                     A7 
Command of what, there's no one here 
         D           A 
There's only you and me 
         E 
All the rest are dead or in retreat 
    D        A 
Or with the enemy. 

          A                   E 
Complain, complain, that's all you've done 
  D            A 
Ever since we lost 
    D                  A  
If it's not the Crucifixion 
      E             A 
Then it's the Holocaust. 
     A                     A7 
May Christ have mercy on your soul 
       D           A 
For making such a joke 
      E 
Amid these hearts that burn like coal 
           D                  A 
And the flesh that rose like smoke. 

   A                   E 
I know that you have suffered, lad 
     D             A 
But suffer this awhile 
      D                   A 
Whatever makes a soldier sad 
      E              A 
Will make a killer smile. 
     A                            A7 
I'm leaving, Captain, I've got to go 
         D               A 
There's blood upon your hand 
     E         
But tell me, Captain, if you know 
      D                A 
Of a decent place to stand. 

      A                       E 
There is no decent place to stand 
D         A  
In a massacre 
    D                     A 
But if a woman take your hand 
     E                  A 
Then go and stand with her. 
    A                   A7 
I left a wife in Tennessee 
      D           A 
And a baby in Saigon 
     E            
I risked my life but not to hear 
      D                A 
Some country-western song. 

        A                          E 
Ah, but if you cannot raise your love 
     D             A 
To a very high degree 
             D                              A            
Then you're just the man I've been thinking of 
    E                  A 
So come and stand with me. 
       A                         A7 
Your standing days are done, I cried, 
       D             A 
You'll rally me no more 
   E 
I don't even know what side 
    D                  A 
We fought on, or what for. 

     A                         E 
I'm on the side that's always lost 
    D                   A 
Against the side of Heaven 
    D                            A 
I'm on the side of Snake-eyes tossed 
    E                  A 
Against the side of Seven 
         A                         A7 
And I've read the Bill of Human Rights 
      D              A 
And some of it was true 
     E  
But there wasn't any burden left 
        D            A 
So I'm laying it on you. 

         A              E 
Now the Captain he was dying 
         D              A 
But the Captain wasn't hurt 
     D               A 
The silver bars were in my hand 
    E                 A 
I pinned them to my shirt