There's a purple heart on the stars and stripes tonight
It's pinned to the chest of the latest liar
And if you try to speak your mind
They tell you keep it to yourself
You got friends in the armed forces !
They wanna know which side you're on
Doesn't matter cause we'll all be off
To train, to fight
Disregard our human rights
To play the part
The conscience of the damned
You say you're defending me
I'm sick of tying yellow ribbons
Praying not to see..
Another folded flag to a mourning lover
He was an army of one but they'll find another..
And in the fold of the body bag
Somebody check for a heart
You got friends in the armed forces
Now we know what a soldier costs
It's the cost of the rest of us!
To take a life
We all have our price
The wife and kids sleep soundly in their beds
You say you're defending me
I'm untying yellow ribbons
On every single tree, I see
They'll float like butterflies back home
And I can feel the desert's heat
When you're standing next to me
Friendship offers no relief
Stay with me now, just hear me out
Don't want to lose you to that great black cloud
Coming down
You see in the path a bullet makes
When it calls you by your name
And the medic can't play the rhythm of your heart
So it starts to fade like footsteps in the march
The parade passes by our fingertips
As lives once were right.
To change our minds
Everything that's wrong looks right
The lives we lead
Are somewhere in between !
– You say you're defending me
I'm sick of tying yellow ribbons
Praying not to see
We're not going to hell
To run rings around a wishing well..
It's pinned to the chest of the latest liar
And if you try to speak your mind
They tell you keep it to yourself
You got friends in the armed forces !
They wanna know which side you're on
Doesn't matter cause we'll all be off
To train, to fight
Disregard our human rights
To play the part
The conscience of the damned
You say you're defending me
I'm sick of tying yellow ribbons
Praying not to see..
Another folded flag to a mourning lover
He was an army of one but they'll find another..
And in the fold of the body bag
Somebody check for a heart
You got friends in the armed forces
Now we know what a soldier costs
It's the cost of the rest of us!
To take a life
We all have our price
The wife and kids sleep soundly in their beds
You say you're defending me
I'm untying yellow ribbons
On every single tree, I see
They'll float like butterflies back home
And I can feel the desert's heat
When you're standing next to me
Friendship offers no relief
Stay with me now, just hear me out
Don't want to lose you to that great black cloud
Coming down
You see in the path a bullet makes
When it calls you by your name
And the medic can't play the rhythm of your heart
So it starts to fade like footsteps in the march
The parade passes by our fingertips
As lives once were right.
To change our minds
Everything that's wrong looks right
The lives we lead
Are somewhere in between !
– You say you're defending me
I'm sick of tying yellow ribbons
Praying not to see
We're not going to hell
To run rings around a wishing well..
inviata da giorgio - 27/2/2010 - 09:10
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Album: Common Existence [2009]
"This song was a welcome straightforward critique of war when many of their other songs that have sounded anti-war they wanted to work as metaphors (the whole War All The Time album).
I know the commitment you've made is a big deal but it is hard to justify death and destruction. To quote the wisdom of bumper stickers: "Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?"
What are you defending? Did I ask you defend me? Are you defending freedom? How is that? By killing people and tearing a country apart? Every war through all of time has been justified on noble grounds. They are thinking the same exact things you are, finding the same sort of justifications. It's like trying to put out fire with fire. We continue to burn.
If this was Hitler taking over half of Europe in ways that are beyond our reach, murdering and torturing millions of Jews – then ok, I could see that some action is needed. But this is the twenty-first century! There are a million things we could have done beside tearing two countries apart…
We call this a Christian nation but we don't even come close to Christian principles. Turn the other cheek? Love your enemy? If we were really a Christian nation we would have responded to September 11 by apologizing for tearing the region apart for decades then turned to them with understanding and patience, trying to work out the conflict and improve their lives. Ludicrous? Yes. Christian–very much so. But that is the kind of thing that would work in this new century. We've been responding with paranoia and war for so long it is just our automatic response.
No, Thursday is right: You think you're defending me? Well I'm sick of tying yellow ribbons trying not see all of this pain and death that we are perpetuating. We're not going to hell over silly wishes. It is death. We die. Why hasn't humanity moved past this yet?
Anyone who liked this CD I'd really commend checking out Story of the Year's latest CD, the Black Swan. Excellent anti-war message.