1917 Chords

KeyBm CapoNone TuningStandard Difficulty Plays519

1917 by David Olney is a moderately challenging guitar song played in the key of Bm. It uses the chords Bm, Em, F#, D and A. Use the transpose and diagram tools on this page to change the key, see each shape, or simplify the chords.

Transpose
Bm
Text
16
Speed
  			Bm Em 
The strange young man who comes to me 
F# Bm 
A soldier on a three day spree 
Bm Em 
Who needs one night's cheap ecstasy  
F# Bm 
And a woman's arms to hide him 

Bm Em 
He greets me with a courtly bow 
F# Bm 
He hides his pain by acting proud  
Bm Em 
And he drinks too much and he laughs too loud  
F# Bm 
But, how can I deny him? 

D A 
Let us dance beneath the moon 
Em Bm 
I'll sing to you "Claire de Lune" 
D A 
The morning always comes too soon 
F# Bm 
But tonight the war is over 

Bm Em 
He speaks to me in schoolboy French 
F# Bm 
Of a soldier's life inside a trench 
Bm Em 
The look of death, the ghastly stench 
F# Bm 
I do my best to please him 

Bm Em 
He puts two roses in a vase  
F# Bm 
Two roses sadly out of place 
Bm Em 
Like the gallant smile on his haggard face  
F# Bm 
Playfully I tease him 

D A 
Hold me 'neath the Paris sky 
Em Bm 
Let's not talk of how or why 
D A 
Tomorrow's soon enough to die 
F# Bm 
But tonight the war is over 

Bm Em 
We make love too hard, too fast  
F# Bm 
He falls asleep, his face a mask 
Bm Em 
He wakes with the shakes and drinks from his flask 
F# Bm 
I put my arms around him 

Bm Em 
They die in the trenches, they die in the air 
F# Bm 
In Belgium an Franch the dead are everywhere 
Bm Em 
They die so fast there's no time to prepare 
F# Bm 
A decent grave to surround them 

D A 
Old World glory and Old World fame 
Em Bm 
The Old World's gone, gone up in flames 
D A 
Nothing will ever be the same 
F# Bm 
And nothing lasts forever 

Bm Em 
I'd pray for him, but I've forgotten how 
F# Bm  
And there's nothing, nothing that can save him now 
Bm Em 
There's always another with the same funny bow 
F# Bm 
And who am I to deny them 

D A 
La, la etc. 
Em Bm 
D A 
F# Bm 
Tonight the war is over 
    	

Chord diagrams

Guitar tuner

--
Start the tuner and play a string

Reference tones

Standard tuning, lowest to highest. Click a string to play it; the string the mic hears is highlighted.

Click Start tuner and allow microphone access. The needle centers and turns green when a string is in tune (within 5 cents).
No microphone? You can still tap any string above to hear its exact reference pitch.

Metronome

100 BPM Andante