1958   tough kids in memphis played army   never played navy   john wayne
played army   black-and-white tv    jungles were gray    uniforms were gray    blood
was gray    on tv, nobody ever gets hurt.

 

uncle tommy was in world war two   he told tales   jeeps   tanks   dusty french
villages   soldiers mobbed by young women   kissing   hugging    quiet nights
reading moms letters by the light of the moon    in his tales, nobody ever gets hurt

 

1968   uncle warned me   be careful what you wish for   nineteen seemed old
enough   8 solid weeks   still playing army   empty rifles   dull bayonets   digging
foxholes   reading moms letters by the light of the moon   in boot camp, nobody
ever gets hurt.

 

vietnam   television war in black-and-white   pre-packaged newsclips   america’s
mothers and fathers watched   was that our son we saw?   is he still alive?   on
the 6 o’clock news, nobody ever gets hurt

 

reality came quick   bright green steaming hot jungles … gunpowder smell …
helicopter sounds … bright white explosions … yellow flames from smoking gun
barrels … green tracer rounds tear through wet leaves … sudden death leaves a
bright red stain reality assaulted my eyes wistful black-and-white memories
forever gone

 

back home   safe at last   now uncle tells real war stories   nazis tried to kill him
commies tried to kill me   suddenly i get angry   uncle betrayed me with innocent
fairytales   i yell   why didn’t you tell me the truth about war?   he slowly stands
up to leave   tired eyes weeping   soft spoken   I felt you were too tender-hearted
to hear the truth

 

in war, everybody gets hurt!