Another Age

By Phil Ochs

Tuning: One semitone lower than standard

Intro: Am- F G Am- F G

Am                                            E     Am  E Am
There's a man walking round the island with a snake cane
Am                                 E  Am     E Am
He picked it up in Thailand from a hurricane
        C                   G
And you know he's not gonna go there
                       F  G
He's been one time too long
                     C    Am
Now all the gods are gone    (Though the game is gone)
The younger boys are drowning in a shallow sea
The night belongs to snipers in palm trees
And their sabres flashed like lightning
In the charge of the last brigade
They must have been afraid

E 
Soldiers have their sorrow
    F
The wretched have their rage
Dm                         G
Pray for the aged it's the dawn of another age
            Am
Of another age
            C
Of another age
            Am
Of another age

The blood running down the blackboard on a blank(?) screen (in a thin stream?)
The convicts shake their cages of a bad dream
And they'll coach you in the classroom that it cannot happen here
But it has happened here
I remember nothing that I memorized (The cockroach cops are crawling on a battle ground)
I got my education from a black eye (The shields are in the shadows, it's a college town)
And they'll teach you law and order
If you dare to raise your hand
Spare the glove and spoil the man
Soldiers have their sorrow
The wretched have their rage
Pray for the aged
It's the dawn of another age
Of another age
Of another age

Thomas Paine and Jesse James are old friends
And Robin Hood is riding on the road again
We were born in a revolution and we died in a wasted war
It's gone that way before
The dogs are chasing chicken bones across the lawn
If that was an election, I'm a Viet Cong
So I pledge allegiance against the flag
and the (fall,flaw,cloth?) for which it stands
I'll raise/raze it if I can  (Pledge allegiance to the land)
Soldier have their sorrow
The wretched have their rage
Pray for the aged
It's the dawn of another age
Of another age
Of another age
Of another age
Of another age

Notes:

Phil changed the lyrics somewhat between Rehearsals For Retirement and There and Now - Live in Vancouver 1968 The lyrics in parenthesis are from the latter performance.

Chords supplied by Cody Gillespie-Lynch