Nanci Griffith - Pearl's Eye View (The Life of Dickey Chapelle) lyrics

Oh, she was high up there in the air
Caught still by a soldier's stare
Whenever it was men amongst men
Down upon the land
And she followed those mothers’ sons
She felt the funder of their guns
From a pearl's eye view
Just a camera in her hand
She was born Georgette, but the name
Didn't suit her well so she blew out of
Wisconsin as Dickey Chappelle

Oh, she flew with a pilot’s pride
The first witness to either side
She carried relief to the lost ones
Between the bombs
And we saw it all through her lens
She knew she'd go back again
When the call rang out once more from Vietnam
She's been through this before
She'll tell you war is hell
Her pearl earrings caught the light
On Dickey Chappelle

Oh, that's the way it was
She was the only one to tell in 1962
She blew the whistle loud and clear
Now we trace her wings
In her footsteps where she fell
To the front lines without fear
Where she lies still but she's still there

It was 1965 over Chu Lai in a free-fall dive
In a dawn patrol to cover
The dead zone ground
She tiptoed through the land mines
All along the enemy lines
But she never saw the one that took her down
She captured the bloody pearls of war so well
That war was bound to steal the end
Of Dickey Chappelle