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
With their 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

[Chorus]
G          D                    Em    Bm
Roland the Thompson gunner...
G          D                    Em    Bm
Roland the Thompson gunner...

[Verse 2]
    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]                                 
D          A                 G        
Roland the headless Thompson gunner      
D                A                       
Norway's bravest son                                  
(Harmony)
(Time, time, time
For another peaceful war
But time stands still for Roland
‘Til he evens up the score)
         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         G       A    Bm
In the muzzle flash of Roland's Thompson gun

[Verse 3]
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

[Chorus]
G                   D                    Em    Bm
Roland the headless Thompson gunner...
G                   D                    Em    Bm
Roland the headless Thompson gunner...
G                   D                 Em        Bm
Roland the headless Thompson gunner...(talkin’ about the man)
G                   D                    Em    Bm
Roland the headless Thompson gunner...

[Verse 4]
      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                 A
Patty Hearst heard the burst of Roland's Thompson gun
    Bm
And bought it