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YEAR OF WONDERS
Words and music by Lachlan Irvine
[C][G][D][G]
[G] Nineteen hundred and sixty eight began in a foreign land;
I carried a radio on my back and a rifle in my [D] hand.
It [G] seemed like only yesterday, the "summer of love" had been;
And I was groovin' to Sergeant Pepper in the twilight of my [D] teens.
It was a [C] year of many wonders, The [G] history books tell it true;
It [D] took a wide-eyed country boy a [G] long way from Dunedoo. [C][G][D][G]
The [G] enemy came out to fight on the holy day of Tet;
But that was just an early sign That I ain't seen nothin' [D] yet.
We [G] took some fire and spilled some blood in a battle near Trang Bom,
While the big man in the White House told the world he couldn't go [D] on.
It was a [C] year of many wonders, The [G] history books tell it true;
It [D] took a wide-eyed country boy a [G] long way from Dunedoo. [C][G][D][G]
A [G] King of peace climbed a mountain top; his words and deeds inspire;
A coward's bullet cut him down And cities caught on [D] fire;
[G] We had our own mountain to climb, Long Hai was its name;
With minefields, tunnels and endless ways to kill, to wound, to [D] maim.
It was a [C] year of many wonders, The [G] history books tell it true;
It [D] took a wide-eyed country boy a [G] long way from Dunedoo. [C][G][D][G]
[G] A season in Hell for seven weeks Of blood and sand and fire;
The whole wide world was comin' apart, while the body count grew [D] higher.
There was [G] one more lesson still to learn, before the pain would end;
I would find how it feels to lose a real good [D] friend.
It was a [C] year of many wonders, The [G] history books tell it true;
It [D] took a wide-eyed country boy a [G] long way from Dunedoo. [C][G][D][G]
[G] Barricades in Gay Paree, the spirit of Soixant-Huit;
There was revolution in the air And carnage in the [D] street.
In a [G] patch of scrub called Coral, we went looking for a fight;
But nothing could prepare us for what hit us that first [D] night.
It was a [C] year of many wonders, The [G] history books tell it true;
It [D] took a wide-eyed country boy a [G] long way from Dunedoo. [C][G][D][G]
[G] For days and weeks the battle raged, and raged and raged some more;
As we dug in at Balmoral And let slip the dogs of [D] war.
I [G] couldn't believe I heard it right, when the man on the radio said
The news from California was another Kennedy [D] dead.
It was a [C] year of many wonders, The [G] history books tell it true;
It [D] took a wide-eyed country boy a [G] long way from Dunedoo. [C][G][D][G]
[G] Prague was a place for poets, you could hear the people sing;
Till tank tracks rumbled through the streets, to crush the hope of [D] Spring.
[G] We faced the worst and did our best, till every test was passed,
And our weary band of brothers made it back to base at [D] last;
It was a [C] year of many wonders, The [G] history books tell it true;
It [D] took a wide-eyed country boy a [G] long way from Dunedoo. [C][G][D][G]
[G] Black Power at the Olympic Games; fists raised to the sky;
So many troubles round the world, and young people asking [D] why.
[G] The only thing that mattered, that I could do or say,
Was try my best to be alive at the end of every [D] day.
It was a [C] year of many wonders, The [G] history books tell it true;
It [D] took a wide-eyed country boy a [G] long way from Dunedoo. [C][G][D][G]
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