G  C  G    C  G    C  G    C  G

[Verse]
   C                       G                       C
My father sailed away, the band played tunes of glory
  F              C                        G   F
A giant man with ribbons, bedevilled dignity
             C             F                 C
A regimental sergeant, the backbone of the Empire
    F                 C                G            C G
For god and righteous glory, bound for High Germany

[Chorus]
      C                G          F             C      F
Sweet lord, I was just seven when Margaret was eleven
                       C                                 G    F
They served us war for breakfast and soldiers' songs for tea
                       C                F            C         F
"Your father's gone campaigning", was a way of not explaining
                      C                   G       C
That soldiers are the living proof of our inhumanity

[Verse]
                                   G                  C
My childhood passed away midst the tales and lurid stories
   F            C                         G    F
Of manufactured glories and inhuman gallantry
                      C      F                     C          F
I asked, "When is war over?", but no one deemed to answer me
                         C                  G             C G
And Margaret played that dreaded tune called High Germany

[Chorus]
      C                G          F             C      F
Sweet lord, I was just seven when Margaret was eleven
                       C                                 G    F
They served us war for breakfast and soldiers' songs for tea
                       C                F            C         F
"Your father's gone campaigning", was a way of not explaining
                      C                   G       C
That soldiers are the living proof of our inhumanity

[Instrumental]
G  C  G    C  G    C  G    C  G

[Verse]
   C                           G                   C
My father made it home, but he came without his reason
    F              C                            G    F
Two eyes of molten madness, a senseless fool of war
                        C                    F                 C
"He's just a child," my mother cried, "to be dressed in full regalia
      F          C               G             C G
And paraded as a hero, home from High Germany"

[Chorus]
      C                G          F             C      F
Sweet lord, I was just seven when Margaret was eleven
                       C                                 G    F
They served us war for breakfast and soldiers' songs for tea
                       C                F            C         F
"Your father's gone campaigning", was a way of not explaining
                      C                   G       C
That soldiers are the living proof of our inhumanity

[Chorus]
                       G          F             C      F
Sweet lord, I was just seven when Margaret was eleven
                       C                                       G    F
They served us war for breakfast, aye, and soldiers' songs for tea
                       C                F            C         F
"Your father's gone campaigning", was a way of not explaining
                      C                   G       C
That soldiers are the living proof of our inhumanity
         F              C         G            C
There'll be no tunes of glory for Margaret and me