Boots [Kipling poem set to music]
Rudyard Kipling published this poem in 1903 as one of the 'Service Songs' which close The Five Nations. It makes reference to Lord Roberts' forced marches in South Africa in 1900.
Boots
(Infantry Columns)
Riff around A A/G A/F# A/E
We're foot--slog--slog--slog--sloggin' over Africa --
F G Am Em Riff
Foot--foot--foot--foot--sloggin' over Africa --
F Dm Am
(Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up and down again!)
Em
There's no discharge in the war!
Seven--six--eleven--five--nine-an'-twenty mile to-day --
Four--eleven--seventeen--thirty-two the day before --
(Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up and down again!)
There's no discharge in the war!
Fmaj7 Am7 Gm C Em
Don't--don't--don't--don't--look at what's in front of you.
G C G F Em
(Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again);
F Dm Am
Men--men--men--men--men go mad with watchin' em,
Em
An' there's no discharge in the war!
Try--try--try--try--to think o' something different --
Oh--my--God--keep--me from goin' lunatic!
(Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again!)
There's no discharge in the war!
Count--count--count--count--the bullets in the bandoliers.
If--your--eyes--drop--they will get atop o' you!
(Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up and down again) --
There's no discharge in the war!
We--can--stick--out--'unger, thirst, an' weariness,
But--not--not--not--not the chronic sight of 'em --
Boot--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again,
An' there's no discharge in the war!
'Taint--so--bad--by--day because o' company,
But night--brings--long--strings--o' forty thousand million
Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again.
There's no discharge in the war!
I--'ave--marched--six--weeks in 'Ell an' certify
It--is--not--fire--devils, dark, or anything,
But boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again,
An' there's no discharge in the war!