A grey sliver casket rolls off the airplane
The stars and stripes are draped over the lid
Inside is the body of our little brother
They say is a soldier, but he's just a kid
We're here to take him to Harlan, Kentucky
Where he will be buried in our family plot
We think of that day when he went in the Army
Expecting a much better jib than he got
He'll be a hero in Harlan
Like all the young soldiers before
He's not the first and he won't be the last
To lay down his life in a war
Somewhere in the records he'll just be a number
Another man lying under a sheet
We're taking him home to rest high on a hillside
And he'll be a hero in Harlan this week
He never made A's when he sat in the classroom
Never got dates with the prettiest girls
When he got turned down for a job in the coalmine
I guess that's what led him to go save the world
He'll be a hero in Harlan
Like all the young soldiers before
He's not the first and he won't be the last
To lay down his life in a war
The world is a big place and maybe needs saving
But what can a country boy do with a gun
He used to win teddy bears down at the fairgrounds
When living was easy and shooting was fun
They fold up the stars and stripes for his mother
And gently they trade the flag for her son
A harder exchange never took place in Harlan
But it's not the first time it's ever been done
He'll be a hero in Harlan
Like all the young soldiers before
He's not the first and he won't be the last
To lay down his life in a war
And he'll be a hero in Harlan
The stars and stripes are draped over the lid
Inside is the body of our little brother
They say is a soldier, but he's just a kid
We're here to take him to Harlan, Kentucky
Where he will be buried in our family plot
We think of that day when he went in the Army
Expecting a much better jib than he got
He'll be a hero in Harlan
Like all the young soldiers before
He's not the first and he won't be the last
To lay down his life in a war
Somewhere in the records he'll just be a number
Another man lying under a sheet
We're taking him home to rest high on a hillside
And he'll be a hero in Harlan this week
He never made A's when he sat in the classroom
Never got dates with the prettiest girls
When he got turned down for a job in the coalmine
I guess that's what led him to go save the world
He'll be a hero in Harlan
Like all the young soldiers before
He's not the first and he won't be the last
To lay down his life in a war
The world is a big place and maybe needs saving
But what can a country boy do with a gun
He used to win teddy bears down at the fairgrounds
When living was easy and shooting was fun
They fold up the stars and stripes for his mother
And gently they trade the flag for her son
A harder exchange never took place in Harlan
But it's not the first time it's ever been done
He'll be a hero in Harlan
Like all the young soldiers before
He's not the first and he won't be the last
To lay down his life in a war
And he'll be a hero in Harlan
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