Warren Zevon – Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner (Guitar)

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Versions (3)

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Chords

[Intro] | D | G D | G D A7 | D A7 | Bm | [Verse 1]
Bm           D                                     G
Roland was a warrior from the Land of the Midnight Sun

       G                    D                    A
With a Thompson gun for hire, fighting to be done

    Bm               D                            G
The deal was made in Denmark on a dark and stormy day

      G             D       A               Bm
So he set out for Biafra to join the bloody fray

        Bm            D                           G
Through sixty-six and seven they fought the Congo war

           G                D                          A
With their fingers on their triggers, knee-deep in gore

    Bm                   D                          G
For days and nights they battled the Bantu to their knees

     G                    D             A                    Bm
They killed to earn their living and to help out the Congolese
[Chorus]
G          D                    Em    Bm
Roland the Thompson gunner...

G          D                    Em    Bm
Roland the Thompson gunner...
[Verse 2]
    Bm                 D                          G
His comrades fought beside him - Van Owen and the rest

       G                   D                   A
But of all the Thompson gunners Roland was the best

       Bm     D                       G
So the CIA decided they wanted Roland dead

     G                  D    A                 Bm
That son-of-a-bitch Van Owen blew off Roland's head
[Chorus]
 D           A                  G
 Roland the  headless Thompson  gunner
(Time, time, time, for another peaceful war)
     D                                     A
     Nor    -    way's     bravest        son
(But time stands still for Roland 'til he evens up the score)
         Bm    A       D        A    G                        Bm
They can still see his headless body stalking through the night

       D               A                 Bm
In the muzzle flash of Roland's Thompson gun

       D               A                 G         G       A    Bm
In the muzzle flash of Roland's Thompson gun
[Verse 3]
Bm                  D                                     G
Roland searched the continent for the man who'd done him in

   G               D                           A
He found him in Mombassa in a barroom drinking gin

Bm               D                              G
Roland aimed his Thompson gun - he didn't say a word

       G               D         A                Bm
But he blew Van Owen's body from there to Johannesburg
[Chorus]
G                   D                    Em    Bm
Roland the headless Thompson gunner...

G                   D                    Em    Bm
Roland the headless Thompson gunner...

G                   D                 Em        Bm
Roland the headless Thompson gunner...(talkin’ about the man)

G                   D                    Em    Bm
Roland the headless Thompson gunner...
[Verse 4]
      Bm             D                                   G
The eternal Thompson gunner, still wandering through the night

G                      D                               A
Now it's ten years later but he still keeps up the fight

   Bm          D                         G
In Ireland, in Lebanon, in Palestine and Berkeley...

G            G                  G                 A
Patty Hearst heard the burst of Roland's Thompson gun

    Bm
And bought it