Men Behind The Guns
Phil Ochs

Dm C
Let's drink a toast to the admiral,
Dm F
and here's to the captain bold,
Am Dm
and glory more for the commodore,
F C
when the deeds of might are told.

Dm C
They stand to the deck with the battle's wreck,
Dm F
when the great shells roar and pound,
Am Dm
and never they fear when the foe is near
F C
to lay their orders down--

F Dm
But off with your hats and three times three
F C
for every sailor's son,
Dm C
for the men below who fight the foe,
F C
the men behind the guns:
Am Dm
oh, the men behind the guns.

Their hearts a-pounding heavy when
they swing to port once more --
with never enough of the greenback stuff,
they start for the leave ashore.

And you'd think perhaps the blue-blouse chaps
had better clothes to wear,
for the uniforms of officers
could hardly be compared:

Warriors bold with straps of gold
that dazzle like the sun
outshine the common sailor boys,
the lads who serve the guns:
oh, the men behind the guns.

Say not a word till the shot is heard
that tells the fight is on,
and the angry sound of another round
that says there must be (God? gone??)

Over the deep and the deadly sweep,
the fire and the bursting shell,
where the very air is a mad despair,
the throes of a living hell.

But down and deep in a mighty ship
unseen by the midday sun
you'll find the boys who make the noise,
the lads who serve the guns:
oh, the men behind the guns.

And well they know the cyclone blow
loose from the cannon's steel.
The know the hull of the enemy ship
will quiver with the (peal?).

And the decks will rock with the lightning shock
and shake with the great recoil
while the sea grows red with the blood of the dead
and swallows up her spoil.

But not until the final ship
has made her final run
can we give their rest to the very best:
to the lads who serve the guns --
oh, the men behind the guns.

Let's drink a toast to the admiral,
and here's to the captain bold,
and glory more for the commodore,
when the deeds of might are told.

They stand to the deck with the battle's wreck,
when the great shells roar and pound,
and never they fear when the foe is near
to lay their orders down--

But off with your hats and three times three
for every sailor's son,
for the men below who fight the foe,
the men behind the guns:
oh, the man behind the gun.


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Lyrics by Phil Ochs

  A Toast To Those Who Are Gone   A.M.A. Song   All My Heroes Are Dead   Another Age   Another Country   As I Walk Alone   Automation Song   Bach, Beethoven, Mozart & Me   Bach, Beethoven, Mozart & Me   Bach, Beethoven, Mozart Me   Ballad of Alferd Packer   Ballad of Medgar Evers   Ballad Of Oxford   Ballad Of Oxford (Jimmy Meredith)   Ballad of the Carpenter   Ballad Of The Cuban Invasion   Ballad of William Worthy   Basket In The Pool   Bound For Glory   Boy In Ohio   Bracero   Bullets of Mexico   Bwatue   Cannons Of Christianity   Celia   Changes   Changes [Live]   Changing Hands   Chaplain Of The War   Chords Of Fame   Christine Keeler   City Boy   Colored Town   Cops Of The World   Cross My Heart   Cross My Heart [#][Demo Version]   Crucifixion   Crucifixion [Album Version]   Crucifixion [Live]   Davey Moore   Days Of Decision   Do What I Have To Do   Doesn't Lenny Live Here Anymore   Doesn't Lenny Live Here Anymore   Draft Dodger Rag   Draft Dodger Rag [Live]   Encores   Fallen Star   Fifty Mile Hike   Firehouse 35   First Snow   Flower Lady   Freedom Riders   Gas Station Woman   Gas Station Women   Going Down To Mississipi   Green Hills   Half A Century High   Hands   Hazard, Kentucky   Here's To The State Of Mississippi   Here's To The State Of Richard Nixon   Here's To The State Of Richard Nixon (Live)   Here's To The State Of Mississippi   Here's To The State Of Richard Nixon   Heres To The State Of Richard Nixon   Highwayman [Live]   Hills of West Virginia   How High's The Watergate   How High's The Watergate   How Long   How Long [#]   Hunger And Cold   I Ain't Marching Anymore   I Ain't Marhing Anymore   I Ain't Marching Anymore   I Aint Marching Anymore   I Dreamed I Saw Phil Ochs Last Night   I Kill Therefore I Am   I Like Hitler   I'll Be There   I'm Going To Say It Now   I'm Tired   I've Had Her   I'll Be There   I'm Going To Say It Now   I'm Tired   I've Had Her   If I Knew   In The Heat Of The Summer   Iron Lady   Is There Anybody Here   It's Been A Long, Long Story   It's Been A Long, Long Story   Jim Dean Of Indiana   Joe Hill   Just One Of Those Days   Kansas City Bomber   Keep The Change   Knock on the Door   Legends   Links On The Chain   Lou Marsh   Love Is A Rainbow   Love Me, I'm A Liberal   Love Me, I'm A Liberal   Maintaining Law & Order   Maintaining Law And Order   Miranda   Monroe Town   Morning   Morning (Experiment In Jazz Chords)   Morning [#]   My Kingdom For A Car   My Life   Never Again   New Town   Niko Mchumba Ngombe   No Christmas In Kentucky   No More Songs   On Her Hand A Golden Ring   On My Way   One More Parade   One Way Ticket Home   Outside of a Small Circle of Friends   Paul Crump   Phil   Phil Ochs   Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Steve Goodman, David Blue &a...   Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Steve Goodman, David Blue An...   Pleasures of the Harbor   Positively (Not) 4th Street   Power And Glory   Power and the Glory   Pretty Smart On My Part   Pretty Smart On My Part [Album Version]   Rehearsals for Retirement   Rehearsals for Retirement [Album Version]   Remember Me   Ringing Of Revolution   Rivers Of The Blood   Sailors & Soldiers   Sailors & Soldiers   Santo Domingo   Sing Along With Me   Song of My Returning   Spaceman   Spanish Civil War Song   Take It Out of My Youth   Talkin' Pay Tv   Talking Birmingham Jam   Talking Cuban Crisis   Talking Pay T.V.   Talking Plane Disaster   Talking Vietnam   Talking Vietnam Blues   Tape From California   Tape from California [Live]   Ten Cents a Coup   That Was The President   That's The Way It's Gonna Be   That's What I Want To Hear   That's The Way It's Gonna Be   That's What I Want To Hear   The Ballad of Alferd Packer   The Ballad of Billie Sol   The Ballad Of John Henry Faulk   The Ballad of John Train   The Ballad Of Sonny Liston   The Ballad Of The Carpenter   The Ballad Of U.S. Steel   The Bells   The Cannons of Christianity   The Confession   The Day   The Doll House   The Draft Dodger Rag   The Floods Of Florence   The Harder They Fall   The Highwayman   The Hills Of West Virginia   The Iron Lady   The Marines Have Landed On The Shores Of Santo Dom   The Marines Have Landed On The Shores Of Santo Dom...   The Marines Have Landed On The Shores Of…   The Parade's Still Passing By   The Parade's Still Passing By   The Party   The Passing Of My Life   The Power & The Glory   The Power And The Glory   The Sad & Silent Song Of A Soldier   The Sad & Silent Song Of A Soldier   The Scorpion Departs But Never Returns   The Scorpion Departs But Never Returns [Album Vers...   The Shoals Of Herring   The Thresher   The Trial   The War Is Over   The World Began in Eden & Ended in Los Angeles   The World Began In Eden And Ended In Los Angeles   There But For   There but for Fortune   Thirsty Boots   This Old World Is Changing Hands   Time Was   Too Many Martyrs   United Fruit   Viet Nam   We Seek No Wider War   We Seek No Wider War [#]   What Are You Fighting For   What's That I Hear?   What's That I Hear?   When First Unto This Country   When I'm Gone   When I'm Gone   When In Rome   Where There's A Will There's A Way   Where There's A Will There's A Way   Where Were You In Chicago?   White Boots Marching In A Yellow Land   William Butler Yeates Visits Lincoln Park And Esca...   William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park &…   William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park & Esc...   William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park &&...   William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park and Escap...   William Moore   You Can't Get Stoned Enough   You Can't Get Stoned Enough   You Should Have Been Down In Mississppi   Your Eyes Will Taste Of The Flowers

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