The Patriot's Dream by Gordon Lightfoot 


verse 1: 
    G                        C 
The songs of the wars are as old as the hills 
     G                          A               D 
They cling like the rust on the cold steel that kills 
     G                         Em          C 
They tell of the boys who went down to the tracks 
     D                         C                   G 
In a patriotic manner with the cold steel on their backs 


verse 2: 
The patriot's dream is as old as the sky  
It lives in the lust of a cold callous lie  
Let's drink to the men who got caught by the chill  
Of the patriotic fever and the cold steel that kills 

Instrumental (Same as Verse) 

verse 3: 
The train pulled away on that glorious night  
The drummer got drunk and the bugler got tight  
While the boys in the back sang a song of good cheer  
While riding off to glory in the spring of their years 

verse 4: 
The patriot's dream still lives on today  
It makes mothers weep and it makes lovers pray  
Let's drink to the men who got caught by the chill  
Of the patriotic fever and the cold steel that kills 

(On 6th string strum/pluck notes G - F# - E while slowing tempo) 

VERSE 5: 
Em         G     D        Em    G       D         Em 
Well there was a sad, sad lady, weeping all night long 
      G        D        Em              G            D   Em 
She received a sad, sad message, from a voice on the telephone 
    G        D        Em               G      D       Em 
Her children were all sleeping, as she waited out the dawn 
    G         D          Em                   G      D        G    Em 
How could she tell those children, that their father was shot down 
       G         D      Em                     G         D      Em 
So she took them to her side that day, and she told them one by one 
      G     D     Em                    D          G     Em 
Your father was a good man ten-thousand miles from home 
   Am              D           G                    Cmaj7 
He tried to do his duty and it took him straight to hell 
   Am               D         G                 Cmaj7  Am 
He might be in some prison, I hope he's treated well 

VERSE 6:(Same chords as Verse 5) 
Well there was a young girl watching in the early afternoon  
When she heard the name of someone who said he'd be home soon  
And she wondered how they got him, but the papers did not tell  
There would be no sweet reunion, there would be no wedding bells  
So she took herself into her room and she turned the bed sheets down  
And she cried into the silken folds of her new wedding gown  
He tried to do his duty and it took him straight to hell  
He might be in some prison, I hope he's treated well 


VERSE 7:(Same chords as Verse 5) 
Well there was an old man sitting in his mansion on the hill  
And he thought of his good fortune and the time he'd yet to kill  
Well he called to his wife one day, "Come sit with me awhile"  
Then turning toward the sunset, he smiled a wicked smile  
"Well I'd like to say I'm sorry for the sinful deeds I've done  
But let me first remind you, I'm a patriotic son"  
They tried to do their duty and it took 'em straight to hell  
They might be in some prison, I hope they're treated well 

REPEAT Verses 1, 3 & 4