Am
Well mister I just overheard you talking through your drink
        Dm                                 G
How the Russians lie like rugs how they've pushed us to the brink
    Am             Em                F                 G
Now sit right here beside me I've an old man's tale to tell
    Am                  G                      Am
How Yanks and Reds were friends once... at the Elbe

   Am          G                  Am    G  C
My name is Joe Polowski I hitched up in '41
        Dm                          G
Left my sweetheart in Chicago and I learned to fire a gun
    Am         Em                    F                  G
The fog in the Ardennes so thick you could not see your nose
        Am      G      C       D      F         G          Am
Nor the ghosts in the Belgian wood advancing through the snow

   Am            G                Am         G        C
We left our dead behind us and we scaled the Dragon's Teeth
     Dm                           G
With screaming mimis overhead not one of us could sleep
Am        Em                F                     G
Some fell to the enemy some fell to the creeping cold
      Am       G      C      D       F      G           Am
And I killed a German sniper who was not fourteen years old

       F                                Am
When a soldier takes a hit my friend it ain't like Hollywood
 G                          Am   G/B            C
Bone and guts go flying and everywhere there's blood
      Dm                           C
For a moment he is mystified there must be some mistake
      F                            E
As it all drains out in a crimson lake

     Am               G           Am           G       C
Then April turned the weather and likewise the tide of war
   Dm                     G
As haggard hungry Germans surrendered by the score
    Am                Em           F                 G
And thank god for the Russians who took the battle's brunt
    Am        G           C      D   F        G        Am
And broke the back of the Wermacht along the eastern front

         C                             G
Then we saw a burst of lilacs and the river swift and wide
    Am                              Em
And rest and welcome waiting for us on the other side
     C         F                C           G          Am   F  C  G
And Yanks and Reds laughed out loud to be alive at the Elbe

   Am                  G         Am       G       C
We caught the glint of water and upon the distant shore
Dm                            G
Men and trucks and horses not German and not ours
   Am                  Em            F             G
No bridge to cross but at the dock a boat securely tied
   Am       G         C          D      F       G       Am
We blew the chain and rowed like demons for the other side

    Am                G               Am      G      C
But when we stepped up on the land oh Jesus what a sight
          Dm                         G
Blackened bodies of civilians like driftwood piled high
    Am             Em                   F              G
Cut down by stray artillery -- what the hell is it all for
   Am         G         C      D      F      G        Am
We knelt and cursed the cruelty and madness men call war

      F                                Am
Three Russians approached us, we shook hands and then embraced
G                                   Am      G/B       C
Stalingrad had traced it's lines of sadness on their face
 Dm                                C
Upon that field of corpses these weary happy men
         F                              E
Swore an oath that it must never happen again

    Am               G                     Am    G   C
And then we wept and cheered and spoke in languages unknown
     Dm                         G
They poured us Russian vodka by god we drank it down
    Am              Em                 F             G
We sang "The Volga Boatman" they sang "Tavern in the Town"
  Am    G      C       D      F       G      Am
I never kissed so many men as on that afternoon

         C                             G
When we saw a burst of lilacs and the river swift and wide
    Am                              Em
And rest and welcome waiting for us on the other side
     C         F                C           G          Am   F  C  G
And Yanks and Reds laughed out loud to be alive at the Elbe

       Am             G                  Am       G         C
But no sooner were we stateside than the cold war headlines read
Dm                            G
Commies in the unions commies under every bed
  Am            Em                F              G
Hurrah the Nazi devil's down long live the devil Red
    Am      G     C         D       F     G           Am
And not one word about the oath we swore amongst the dead

          Am                G                  Am     G      C
There are kids today who'll tell you we fought Russia in the war
           Dm                     G
There are armchair heroes set to settle some old score
          Am             Em                F                   G
There are profiteers and pushers primed to send young men once more
   Am       G         C     D       F     G     Am
To blow themselves to glory on some godforsaken shore

   F                                    Am
So drape my coffin with the flag of the good old USA
    G                       Am      G/B     C
Let Yanks in army khaki and Reds in Russian gray
Dm                         C
Lower me so gently into the German clay
    F                                  E
And speak again the oath we swore that day

         C                             G
When we saw a burst of lilacs and the river swift and wide
    Am                              Em
And rest and welcome waiting for us on the other side
     C         F                C           G          Am   F  C  G
And Yanks and Reds laughed out loud to be alive at the Elbe