Here lies poor John, John from Aberdeen
He gave his life for King and Country
Only seventeen;

Well the Generals sat down with their Port and a bottle of wine
"We have a problem here right now
And we're running out of time
This madman of a Leader keeps changing our battle plans
And the King said he wants no more of this troublesome man";

So they called for the Captain and told him
"We need a volunteer; our Leader is a traitor
And he must be gone from here;
A simple execution, but nothing can be seen."
So they gave the job to John from Aberdeen;

And he said, "Oh no, it must be done
Justice coming from the barrel fo a gun;
Oh no what can I do, someone has to pull the trigger
Blame it on the Chain of Command
I will have to pull the trigger
Blame it on the Chain of Command!"

Right then at the killing poor John was taken by surprise
And they told him in prison "Your story is a pack of lies!"
And the General said in the Courtroom
"For this murder you will pay
You'll be shot at dawn, do you have anything to say?"
And John said "I was only following orders
And I knew that it was wrong
But what else could I do?
And now my life has gone."

Oh no, what has he done
He killed a man with a bullet from a gun
Oh no, what could he do, someone had to pull the trigger
Blame it on the Chain of Command;
Oh no, it has been done
Justice coming from the barrel of a gun
Oh no, what could he do?
Someone had to pull the trigger
Blame it on the Chain of Command!
Someone had to pull the trigger
Blame it on the Chain of Command!"

The Chain of Command
The Chain of Command
The Chain of Command