Intro D A D 

D                        
When the bodies were bagged and the telegrams sent 
        G                       D 
And the very last chopper had gone 
 D      G                            D          Bm          A 
And you looked out the window of the 707 on the airfield in Saigon, 
D                               Bm 
Some of us thought that the war was over 
G                       D 
Some of us couldn’t care less; 
G                             D                    G                    A 
But you came home and threw a stay-behind party to try to clear up the mess. 

        G               D           A                   D 
I don’t know where you are tonight..I’m down here in a firefight… 
F#m                                   G    A          D        
But where-ever you are, I hope you’re safe behind the wire. 

D                               Bm                G                     D 
We were fighting for freedom in South-East Asia…. That’s how the story ran; 
G                     D                    Bm         A 
Windy speeches about a domino falling from China into Vietnam… 
D                               Bm      G                          D 
But look back in sickness and anger,   Australia didn’t honour her debt; 
G                  D                                 G               A 
And non-commission Officer Thompson learned that the war wasn’t over yet. 


   G            D                               A                   D 
Living on your nerves, living on the phone and sleeping in airports far from home…. 
F#m                G    A          D     
Dusted off now and safe behind the wire. 


Instrumental:   A       G       D       A       G 


D                               Bm                G                   D 
Well he have and he gave and he kept on giving, till he just couldn’t give anymore; 
G                       D                      Bm       A 
And he gave it away one morning in Sydney in a rust-red Commodore… 

D                                Bm                G                  D 
And I remember Phill best talking on the phone, with a cheeky grin on his face…. 
G                               D 
Because Royal Commissioners and Knights of the Realm  
G                                  A 
Thought that Phill didn’t know his place. 

        G               D           A                   D 
I don’t know where you are tonight..I’m down here in a firefight… 
F#m                                   G    A          D        
But where-ever you are, I hope you’re safe behind the wire. 

A                                       G                          D 
And the’re still bagging bodies, Phill, though fourteen years have gone; 
    A                                                G          A 
And the mums and the dads and the wives and the kids still have to soldier on. 

        G               D           A                   D 
I don’t know where you are tonight..I’m down here in a firefight… 
F#m                                   G    A          D        
But where-ever you are, I hope you’re safe behind the wire. 

        G               D           A                   D 
I don’t know where you are tonight..I’m down here in a firefight… 
F#m                                   G    A          D       G   A   D 
But where-ever you are, I hope you’re safe behind the wire.