Artist: | Eric Bogle (English) |
User: | malcolmgeorgewalker |
Duration: | 130 seconds |
Delay: | 12 seconds |
Chord names: | Not defined |
Abusive: | |
Comment: |
(capo 1 or 3) The song is about the horses sent overseas during WW1 to serve in the various theatres of war. Of the approximately 53,000 horses Australia sent overseas during WW1, only one ever returned to Australia. At the end of the war the Anzacs were ordered to get rid of their horses, the authorities did not want them returning to Australia and perhaps bringing in anthrax or TB or suchlike. Most of the horses were sold or given away, but in Palestine the Light Horsemen refused to give or sell their horses to the Arab population of Palestine, and chose instead to shoot them all. I based the song on an actual Light Horseman called Elijah Conn who had a horse in Palestine called Banjo. Elijah never forgot Banjo and for the rest of his life, could not talk about him without tears coming to his eyes. |
As If He Knows
If using Capo 1 accompany with Bb harp
Verse 1
A It’s as if he knows
D He’s standing A close to me
D His breath warm A on my sleeve E
E His head hung A low E
A It’s as if he knows
D What in the A dawn will bring
D The end of A everything
E For my old Ban A jo
A And D all along the picket lines ben A eath the desert sky
A The Light D Horsemen move amongst their mates
D to A say one last good E bye
E and the D horses stand so quietly
A Row on silent D row E
E It’s as if they A know D A
A Time after time
D We rode through A shot and shell
D We rode in and A out of Hell E
E On their strong A backs E
Verse 2
A Time after time
D They brought us A safely through
D By their A swift sure hooves
E And their brave A hearts
A Tom D orrow we will form up ranks and A march down to the quay
A And D sail back to our loved ones in that dear A land across the E sea
E While our D loyal and true companions
D Who asked so A little and gave so D much E
E Will lie dead in the A dust. D A
Instrumental: Harp in Bb play a verse
Verse 3
A For the orders came
D No horses A to return
D We were to A abandon them E
E To be A slaves E
A After all we’d shared
D And all that A we’d been through
D A Nation’s A gratitude
E Was a dusty A grave
A For we can’t D leave them to the people here,
A we’d rather see them dead
A So each D man will take his best mate’s horse with a A bullet through the E head
E For the D people here are like their land
A Wild and cruel and D hard E
E So Banjo, D here’s your A reward. D A
Ending
A It’s as if he knows
D He’s standing A close to me
D His breath warm A on my sleeve E
E His head hung A low E
A It’s as if he knows
D What in the A dawn will bring
D The end of A everything
E For my old Ban A jo
Play the last 2 lines in Bb harp