From: mrubin@amanda.dorsai.org (mark rubin)

Ken Key uploaded this song originally but I think these cords are closer to
the recording on Excitable Boy.  I left Ken's lyric formatting and just
changed the cords . key@cs.utk.edu

Mark Rubin 
----------------------------------------
 Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner
 Warren Zevon


 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
 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

 G          D                    A    Bm
 Roland the Thompson gunner...
 G          D                    A    Bm
 Roland the Thompson gunner...


     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:                                      Harmony:
 D          A                 G        Bm
 Roland the headless Thompson gunner         (Time, time, time
 D                A                           For another peaceful war
 Norway's bravest son                         But time stands still for
                                              Roland
                                              'Til he evens up the score)

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

 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

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



 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                 D
 Patty Hearst heard the burst of Roland's Thompson gun
 A   Bm
 And bought it


All the A cords can be played as a regular A or  O O 2 2 O O,  [I forget
the name of this cord]