Cass McCombs - Unproud Warrior lyrics

September the second, two thousand seventeen
That’s your discharge date
Etched in your soul
It’s been nearly two years now
Gone by so fast
Like the fast-food restaurants they built
While you were away
Pull into the drive-thru, speak into a box
Discard the paper wrappers
When you’re through
These people can’t comprehend the
Choices you made
So you don’t tell them a thing

Unproud warrior unproud warrior
Unproud warrior you made your house your own

Some blame their actions on their government
It’s all orders for these lily-white comrades
They hang up their guns on
A nail of rosewater
And participate in their grandson’s parade
But, you know you had more
Choices than they let on
A soldier is not a cog
But a man like any other
These thoughts you revisit every time
You turn on a movie
And see a depiction that is
Far from your own experience

Unproud warrior unproud warrior
Unproud warrior you made your choice alone

You were only seventeen when you enlisted
You remember
SE Hinton wrote The Outsiders when
She was just fifteen
Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein when
She was just nineteen at twenty-three
Stephen Crane published The Red
Badge Of Courage
Which is still known as one of
The most realistic depictions of war
Even though Crane was born after
The Civil War ended
Maybe sentiments of regret are
Not all that unrelatable
You’ve always taken lengths to be
Aware of your own choice

Unproud warrior unproud warrior
Unproud warrior you built your house alone

Unproud warrior unproud warrior
Unproud warrior you made your house your own