Standard (EADGBE)

Listen all you people, try and understand

You may be a soldier, woman, child or man

Chorus

 But there won't be many coming home

 No, there won't be many coming home

 Oh, there won't be many, maybe ten out of twenty,

 But there won't be many coming home.

Now the old folks will remember on that dark and dismal day,

 How their hearts were choked with pride as their children marched away

 Now the glory is all gone, they are left alone

Chorus +

Oh, there won't be many, maybe five out of twenty

But there won't be many coming home

Look real closely at the soldier coming at you through the haze

He may be the younger brother who ran away

And before you kill another, listen to what I say

Chorus +:

 If they all came back but one he was still some mother's son,

 And there won't be many coming home