D Dsus4 D Dsus4

[Verse 1]
D              A              Bm
William always wanted to be a soldier
G                  F#sus4   F#              Bm
“Army men were his favorite toys” tells his mother
       D               F#m         Bm
He was going to be the hero of the story
Em                 F#sus4   F#       Bm
Live with honor or die in a blaze of glory

[Chorus 1]
      G                  D/F#
So he joined when he was seventeen
Em                 D/F#
Kissed his mom goodbye
    G                      D/F#
She wept as she packed his duffel bag
     Em       Bm       A
With notes of love and pride
G                     D/F#
She’d never guess six years from then
Em            D/F#
Tortured and alone
G                Em     Bm       Asus4
William wouldn’t die in fields unknown
A
He died at home

[Instrumental]
D Dsus4 D Dsus4

[Verse 2]
   D                    A           Bm
He loved the army, it’s all he ever wanted
   G                          F#sus4       F#     Bm       A/C#
To serve his country and look death in the face undaunted
    D                 F#m             Bm
But after a couple of tours, the fire in him died
    Em                     F#sus4     F#       Bm
You can’t watch friends be killed and stay the same inside

[Chorus 2]
   G                   D
He told his mom “you’d hate me
       Em                   D
If you knew the things I’ve done”
 G            D
“I will never hate you
        Em   Bm    Asus4   A
You are my beloved son”
          G           D
He said, “no mom, the son you loved
     Em             D
Died somewhere over there”
    G              Em         Bm     Asus4
But William didn’t die in the combat zone
A
He died at home

[Instrumental]
D Em D/F# G D G A/C#

[Verse 3]
   D                A           Bm
He came back ill at ease with civilians
    G              F#sus4  F#         Bm
His mother woke to screaming – it was William’s
    D                 F#m              Bm
The army shrugged and gave him more prescriptions
   Em                  F#sus4   F#   Bm
As William’s mind grew more and more distant

[Chorus 3]
  G               D
Before he died he told his mom
       Em            D
“Don’t bury me in my uniform
   G        D
No military funeral
Em                  D
That’s for some who gave their all”
    A                 E/G#
One night he shot the soldier dead
   F#m             E/G#
To kill the voices in his head
     A               E/G#
They gathered at the weekly wake
     F#m           E/G#
They have at every army base
       B                F#/A#
‘Cause more will die by their own hand
     G#m         F#/A#
Than fall in any foreign land
     B               F#/A#
They covered William in the flag
    G#m             F#/A#
But there was not a boast or brag
     B                 F#/A#
When asked how soldier William died
G#m    C#       D#m
No one mentions suicide
    B                 F#/A#           C#sus4   C#
The cause of death is hard to say out loud
    B                F#/A#               C#sus4   C#
The soldier who once stood so strong and proud
    B             G#m            C#sus4
His mother looks away and simply moans
C#
He died at home