I Was Only 19

[Intro] Am  C  G  D
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Mum and Dad and Denny saw the passing-out parade at Puckapunyal
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It was a long march from cadets
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The sixth battalion was the next to tour, and it was me who drew the card
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We did Canungra, Shoalwater before we left

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And Townsville lined the footpaths as we marched down to the quay
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This clipping from the paper shows us young and strong and clean
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And there's me in my slouch hat with my SLR and greens
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God help me, I was only nineteen

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From Vung Tau, riding Chinooks, to the dust at Nui Dat
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I'd been in and out of choppers now for months
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But we made our tents a home, VB and pinups on the lockers
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And an agent orange sunset through the scrub

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And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't get to sleep?
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And night-time's just a jungle dark and a barking M16?
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And what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means?
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God help me, I was only nineteen.

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A four week operation when each step could mean your last one on
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two legs
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It was a war within yourself
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But you wouldn't let your mates down til they had you dusted off
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So you closed your eyes and thought about something else

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Then someone yelled out "Contact!" and the bloke behind me swore
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We hooked in there for hours, then a Godalmighty roar
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Frankie kicked a mine the day that mankind kicked the moon
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God help me, he was going home in June

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I can still see Frankie, drinking tinnies in the Grand Hotel
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On a thirty-six hour rec leave in Vung Tau
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And I can still hear Frankie, lying screaming in the jungle
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Til the morphine came and killed the bloody row

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And the Anzac legends didn't mention mud and blood and tears
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And the stories that my father told me never seemed quite real
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I caught some pieces in my back that I didn't even feel
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God help me, I was only nineteen

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And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't get to sleep?
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And why the channel Seven chopper chills me to my feet?
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And what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means?
    E                       D
God help me, I was only