Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner - chords, tab and comments

At the bottom you'll find a link to the complete lyrics.

From Warren Zevon's third album "Excitable Boy"(1978) : about mercenaries in the aftermath of the Congo Crisis during the late sixties, co-written by David Lindell, who actually had been there. The headless norwegian mercenary became Zevon's last performance before his death in 2003: on Late Show with David Letterman 30th of October 2002.
Am            C                                     F
Roland was a warrior from the Land of the Midnight Sun
F                        C                     G
with a Thompson gun for hire • fighting to be done
     Am               C                            F
the deal was made in Denmark on a dark and stormy day
F                   C        G               Fmaj7
so he set out for Biafra to join the bloody fray

F            C             G   Am
Roland the Thompson gunner

     C          G                 F      Am
... Roland the headless Thompson gunner
C                 G
Norway's bravest son ...

     F                                                 C
... Patty Hearst heard the burst of Roland's Thompson gun
G    Am
and bought it
A minor
Am
C major
C
F major
F
G major
G
F major seventh
Fmaj7
Warren Zevon