Debbie's a daddy's girl,
she wears baby blue ribbons in her long blonde curls.
She says, "I know you gotta go, but, Dad, you better be back - before my birthday."
An IED by the side of the road
Broke his pinky promise – broke her home.
A sad man brought a folded flag to her mother..
Now she's a child
of a fallen soldier
She'd give anything
to have him back again,
But he gave everything he had
for his country..
Now the one thing that she knows
is that she's proud.
Brandon's a big boy
who'd rather play soldier than with toys.
All the heroes in his young life served in the Army
But the bravest of brave in his Hopi tribe
is a warrior her friends just call Pie.
To him and his baby sister, she's the Mommy.
He asked, "When's Mama comin' home; does anybody know?"
Till her spirit drifted down on that Tuba City snow.
He tried so hard not to cry
As he dropped those rose petals..
Now he's a child
of a fallen soldier
He gave anything
to have him back again,
She gave everything she had
for her country..
Now the one thing that he knows is that he's proud.
They're all sons and daughters of the ones who died
to give you and me a better life
A gift that big ain't a one-man sacrifice..
THEY're all children
of fallen soldiers
They'd give anything
to have them back again,
But they gave everything they had
for this country.
Now the one thing that they know (– The one thing we all know)
is that we're proud..
she wears baby blue ribbons in her long blonde curls.
She says, "I know you gotta go, but, Dad, you better be back - before my birthday."
An IED by the side of the road
Broke his pinky promise – broke her home.
A sad man brought a folded flag to her mother..
Now she's a child
of a fallen soldier
She'd give anything
to have him back again,
But he gave everything he had
for his country..
Now the one thing that she knows
is that she's proud.
Brandon's a big boy
who'd rather play soldier than with toys.
All the heroes in his young life served in the Army
But the bravest of brave in his Hopi tribe
is a warrior her friends just call Pie.
To him and his baby sister, she's the Mommy.
He asked, "When's Mama comin' home; does anybody know?"
Till her spirit drifted down on that Tuba City snow.
He tried so hard not to cry
As he dropped those rose petals..
Now he's a child
of a fallen soldier
He gave anything
to have him back again,
She gave everything she had
for her country..
Now the one thing that he knows is that he's proud.
They're all sons and daughters of the ones who died
to give you and me a better life
A gift that big ain't a one-man sacrifice..
THEY're all children
of fallen soldiers
They'd give anything
to have them back again,
But they gave everything they had
for this country.
Now the one thing that they know (– The one thing we all know)
is that we're proud..
Contributed by giorgio - 2009/12/13 - 18:34
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Album: Little Time/Somebody Over There
When I first started writing the songs for the SOMEBODY OVER THERE album, our conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan were very much a different story from what's happening now. Other than the soldiers of the 507th, whom we all got to know quite well, there weren't a lot of casualties. What we heard about in letters from "over there" was that the weather was too hot, there was never enough of anything to go around and tours of duty seemed to stretch on forever. Loved ones on both ends missed each other dearly.
Now, with the insurgency, hardly a day goes by we don't lose somebody over there. I felt that SOMEBODY OVER THERE should tell that part of the story also. I decided I wanted to tell it from the point of view of a child losing a parent, and to make the narrative make sense, I needed the soldier and the child to be of opposite sex. For the father-soldier/daughter combination, I wanted somebody who could represent all of our fallen soldiers. Rather than use an actual military family in recent news, I patterned daughter "Debbie" loosely after Sara Crewe, Shirley Temple's character in "The Little Princess."
For the mother-soldier/son part, I could think of no better model than Lori Piestewa and her son Brandon.
In addition to our fallen soldiers and their families, I also wanted to pay tribute to some deserving organizations who are trying to help the families who have lost members in the war. I'm sure there are others, but the two I am aware of are my friend Rebecca Campbell's Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund and the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. Please support either/both if you can.
If any of you are curious about how I write music, this is one of the songs that I composed mostly while mowing the grass one Saturday evening. Anyway, the song came together, and since Memorial Day was coming up, I thought it would be good to put the song out now-just like I put out "Old 124" last Veteran's Day. This song, along with some others about little people and little towns comprise my current CD, "Little Time." Have a great holiday, but please take some time to think about what this holiday is really all about.
Den