INTRO (These are trumpets in the original but you can still play the chords with the guitar)
(Single strums until final C)
Absent friends, here s to them
And happy days
We thought that they would never end
Here s to absent friends
Little Jean Seberg seemed
So full of life
But in those eyes such troubled dreams
Poor little Jean
Woodbine Willie couldn t rest until he d
Given every bloke a final smoke before the killing
Old Woodbine Willie
Steve McQueen jumped the first one clean
But the great escape he tried to make was not to be
Maybe next time Steve
Laika flew through inky blue
Til Laika neared the atmosphere and Laika knew
Laika s life was through
(Single strums all through this verse)
Oscar Wilde was a lonely child
He fought and won acceptance from the world
They smiled, they laughed, they praised
(on the C back the normal strumming)
They drove poor Oscar to his grave
Absent friends, here s to them
And happy days
We thought that they would never end
But they always end
Raise your glasses then to absent friends