Em D Am Em G D C B Em D Am Em G D Em

[Verse 1]
G D  Em                                           D          Em
     On a backblock down Salisbury Plains Ted was born in 1895
C                          G     D            G                   Bm
Thrust from the loins onto rusty soil And the cord was cut with a scythe
        Em                                         D                       Em
He said "People there are city folk today And they couldn't tell shit from clay
  C                G      D               G        D          Em     C
A ripening crop of stobie poles - There's no regrets when the memory roams
     G          D       Em
That earth is in me bones

[Verse 2]
G D  Em                                           D          Em
Did his bit in the First World War Took the shilling to fight the Hun
C                          G     D            G                   Bm
Mud up to his crotch in Flanders fields And the gas eating at his lungs
        Em                                         D                       Em
He said "Me best mate died hanging on the barbed wire And when the attack was through
  C                G      D               G        D          Em     C
We took some prisoners to HQ And shared a fag and a yarn or two
     G          D       Em
They were the same as me and you"

[Chorus]
Em    C                     D    G
And I asked old Ted what history meant
      C                     Em
As he sharpened his hedging shears
        C                         D     G
"What a bloody fool question that is my boy
  Cmaj7                  Em
I lived it for 83 years"

[Verse 3]
G D  Em                                           D          Em
See him every year on Anzac Day Swilling beers down at the Rex Hotel
C                          G     D            G                   Bm
He'd laugh with his mates and go deep in thought Where he went even he couldn't tell...
        Em                                D                   Em
He said "King and country, cock'n'bull We fought just to survive
  C                G      D               G        D          Em     C
The anger might have faded, still this feeling grabs me deep inside
     G          D       Em
I guess you could call it pride"

[Verse 4]
G D  Em                                           D          Em
As a navvy on the line in the Nullabor The Depression left its scars
C                          G     D            G                   Bm
Heaving cold steel rails in the burning sun And freezing beneath the stars
        Em                                D                   Em
He said "If you escaped the susso queues You had a hell of a price to pay
  C                G      D               G        D          Em     C
And when time flowed like an open wound I'd blow me dough on a Saturday
     G        D       Em
And drink the pain away"

[Chorus]
Em    C                     D    G
And I asked old Ted what history meant
      C                     Em
As he sharpened his hedging shears
        C                         D     G
"What a bloody fool question that is my boy
  Cmaj7                  Em
I lived it for 83 years"

[Verse 5]
                                        D
On Sunday arvo he'd sit and talk Over a dozen cold West End
   Cmaj7                                       A            D/F#
Of what was gained and what was lost And would never come again
        Em                                   D
He said "Money you know it comes and goes On booze and rent and fags
        Cmaj7                          Am                 D/F#
You can make a fortune on overtime And lose it all on the nags
    Em                                              D
But years of toil with a bunch of mates You know it leaves you satisfied
          Cmaj7
Though we never moved a mountain
   Am        Em       D/F#
We sure gave it a try"

[Bridge]
         Em                            D
Pick the wheat from the chaff, And the steel from the scurf
        C                 Bm      Am7           Cmaj7
And the honest man from a liar If wisdom came by other names
G           D          Em
Ted was earth and fire

[Refrain]
Em                           D                 Em
On the day that old Ted died No-one would have known
C            G       D        G              Bm
Buried in a pauper's grave He lived and died alone
        Em                          D                  Em
And the 727's soared over head With drone of the angry roads
      C
There seemed a pause for just a while
N.C.
And the silence was heard around for miles
N.C.
And the silence was heard for miles