Josh Ritter - Father's War lyrics
[Josh Ritter - Father's War lyrics]
Came out of arrivals with something in
His eyes that wasn't there
And you've been waiting for him
Beneath the white fluorescent glare
He throws his bags down
Picks you up and he's spinning you around
Holding so tightly to you that you cannot
Even make a sound
This is your favorite memory of him
Polished beautifully
You thought about it often
Both reflexively and dutifully
You didn't care who he was fighting
Or who he was fighting for
Only that your father finally'd come
Home from your father's war
And then eighteen years have passed
We're still in Afghanistan
With IEDs and armored Humvees, Burger Kings
And quicksand
And the folks that started up the
Fight are getting old and dying
And it's harder to remember just
Why the hell we're fighting
So they wrap the reasons in the flag
Show films of 9 11
Every Sunday they remind us that
All soldiers go to Heaven
It's a Heaven for Americans
The ones who please, the Lord
Remember, even Jesus had to
Fight his Father's war
You meet a man you love who
Reminds you of your father
The way he used to be before
His outlook got so dark
He sweeps you off your feet
Carries you across the threshold
Of a new life
Then he ships out you are 22 years old
He calls you when he can
From an undisclosed location
Then something happens and he's sent home
Put on medication he wakes up every night
An AR-15 in his chest with your
Head upon his shoulder you can
Hear your father's war
But now laser-guided missiles beam snuff
Films of their immolation
Fossil fuel removal
Architecture runs on radiation
Lines of code all stowed away
Deep inside a terabyte
An economic serfdom is conferred
Upon the non-compliant
You don't have to understand
It all that's okay, nobody does
It's hard for souls to comprehend the
Horrors they commit and thus
They do their work behind a
Wall, behind a screen, behind a door
So they don't see what he saw
When it was your father's war
So he'll finish off his tour of duty
In an office park in Maryland
Facilitating drone strikes on the
Border towns of Pakistan
This is all that he's told you
It's amazing he's said anything
But, you've seen it on the cable news
The hospitals and weddings
And at first you think he'll be alright
He'll come home from work each evening
But he's no longer all love and light
He's silent or he's seething
And you love him more than anything
But, you've seen this all before
And in every way that matters this
Is still your father's war
It's still your father's war
It's still your father's father's war
And it's his father's war
And his father before father's war
And this is how it's gonna be
Right down through generations
War improving only on it's
Cruelties with innovation
So we stack the dead atop the dead
Like flowers on cut roses
And prove that we can take
Revenge and slaughter without notice
And have everything we want
And with what's left we'll wipe the floor
So maybe it's just easier to
Fight our father's war
His eyes that wasn't there
And you've been waiting for him
Beneath the white fluorescent glare
He throws his bags down
Picks you up and he's spinning you around
Holding so tightly to you that you cannot
Even make a sound
This is your favorite memory of him
Polished beautifully
You thought about it often
Both reflexively and dutifully
You didn't care who he was fighting
Or who he was fighting for
Only that your father finally'd come
Home from your father's war
And then eighteen years have passed
We're still in Afghanistan
With IEDs and armored Humvees, Burger Kings
And quicksand
And the folks that started up the
Fight are getting old and dying
And it's harder to remember just
Why the hell we're fighting
So they wrap the reasons in the flag
Show films of 9 11
Every Sunday they remind us that
All soldiers go to Heaven
It's a Heaven for Americans
The ones who please, the Lord
Remember, even Jesus had to
Fight his Father's war
You meet a man you love who
Reminds you of your father
The way he used to be before
His outlook got so dark
He sweeps you off your feet
Carries you across the threshold
Of a new life
Then he ships out you are 22 years old
He calls you when he can
From an undisclosed location
Then something happens and he's sent home
Put on medication he wakes up every night
An AR-15 in his chest with your
Head upon his shoulder you can
Hear your father's war
But now laser-guided missiles beam snuff
Films of their immolation
Fossil fuel removal
Architecture runs on radiation
Lines of code all stowed away
Deep inside a terabyte
An economic serfdom is conferred
Upon the non-compliant
You don't have to understand
It all that's okay, nobody does
It's hard for souls to comprehend the
Horrors they commit and thus
They do their work behind a
Wall, behind a screen, behind a door
So they don't see what he saw
When it was your father's war
So he'll finish off his tour of duty
In an office park in Maryland
Facilitating drone strikes on the
Border towns of Pakistan
This is all that he's told you
It's amazing he's said anything
But, you've seen it on the cable news
The hospitals and weddings
And at first you think he'll be alright
He'll come home from work each evening
But he's no longer all love and light
He's silent or he's seething
And you love him more than anything
But, you've seen this all before
And in every way that matters this
Is still your father's war
It's still your father's war
It's still your father's father's war
And it's his father's war
And his father before father's war
And this is how it's gonna be
Right down through generations
War improving only on it's
Cruelties with innovation
So we stack the dead atop the dead
Like flowers on cut roses
And prove that we can take
Revenge and slaughter without notice
And have everything we want
And with what's left we'll wipe the floor
So maybe it's just easier to
Fight our father's war