Subject: War

SMOKE PLUMES

On a high flying wagon train

Feel the sun through the window pane

Ran them black hats clear out of town

Hired a posse and gunned them all down

So let 'em raise a big dust cloud

You did good and your Mama's proud

No telling what the truth will find

But you're sky-high now with an open mind

chorus (X2):

And it's funny how the views can change

Thirty-thousand feet up and way down range

Are those smoke plumes in the air?

Or a line of clouds in the predawn glare?

Not sure what you really did

'Til historians lift the lid

Will a new world war dance cut it?

Open Pandora's box or shut it?

Is the world now a better place?

Did it just fall flat on its face?

No telling what you left behind

But you're sky-high now with an open mind

(chorus)

Why does Time always grant us sight

Of what we did wrong and what we did right

When it's too late to change a thing?

When the swan has sung its song and taken to the wing?

How long can Wisdom survive

Unwanted: Dead or Alive?

A lone voice 'mid the home team cheers -

"I give you these for they have no ears"

Final toast on a midnight plane

In full stealth mode and free of blame

It all went like you said it would

Took on the press and you fooled 'em good

Heading home with a loaded chest

Oiled Stetson and a cowboy vest

You know, you really robbed 'em blind

But you're sky-high now with an open mind

(chorus)

SOLDIER X

A clenched fist in a face

A lovers last embrace

A boot print in the mud

Filled with a pool of blood

Ransacked stores, kicked in doors

Executions on the spot

Everyone dies as traitors or spies

Doesn't matter if they're not

chorus 1:

Prisoners march - Their fates all sealed -

Gunshots in the woods beyond the burning field

No mercy or recoiling at the screams of terror

When it really isn't human but genetic error

A boy condemned to die

Is put down in mid-cry

A mother and her son

Are ambushed on the run

"Cold and stern, beat and burn 

Be as brutal as you can

Let none survive to crawl out alive

And alert them of our plan"

chorus 2:

Villagers lie - Their heads face down -

Silence falls over the charred and gutted town

No remorse or revulsion for the night of terror

When it really wasn't human but genetic error

It really isn't human...  

SCORNERS OF THE GRAVE

now, i've been in heavy weather

but this i just can't stand

it's amazing how you stay calm

with the bitter end at hand

take a look outside this window

the storm's not easing up

it's gonna blow right through your cornered life

and flip it like a cup

chorus:

at war with the world -

'cause they don't like the way it's made

so they're gonna kill us

and put our bodies on parade

would you reach across the table

and light my cigarette?

would you give us fifteen minutes?

would you care to make a bet?

be a friend and crack that window

i feel like i can't breathe

on second thought don't bother

who wants to hear them seethe?

(chorus 1)

chorus 2:

at war with the world -

more than our eyes refuse to meet

so they're gonna kill us

and drag our bodies through the street

do you think they'll lay us down

in a hazy sunlit glade?

do you think they'll hear our story

and the sacrifice we made?

i remember reading something

that always made me brave

"through words a man is never dead,

not even in the grave"

(chorus 1+2)

(repeat to fade)

at war with the world

(not even, not even in the grave)

at war with the world

(not even, not even in the grave)

at war with the world

(not even, not even in the grave)

WARLIKE WAY

be it Earth

or the realm of the gods

everyone, everywhere

is at odds

we hear the words the diplomats say

still we pound the drums in a warlike way

every inch

of the Earth, every spot

takes on the look

of a dark parking lot

we try to keep our demons at bay

still they manifest in a warlike way

chorus:

and so we come with loaded guns

to advertise our aims are true

and so we march with bayonets

to emphasize our point of view

no one wants to listen

no one wants to care...

crowded bar

contentious workplace

weapons quick to draw

fisticuffs to face

burning grudge, a time bomb in play

shattering of lives in a warlike way

(chorus)

bridge:

we already got

a witches brew

and these amateur chefs

want to thicken the stew

for you and for me

and for all humanity

(chorus)

tag verse:

no one wants to listen

no one wants to care

until some lunatic fringe group

starts waving guns in the air

THE SHELTER OF SHADOW

verse 1:

i struggle out of the gate -

stumbling -

trip bombs leave dead bodies in my wake

a crescendo of alarms -

soldiers scramble for their arms -

and the race is on for the shoreline of the lake

verse 2:

at the first line of trees - a machine gun nest -

wishing my shadow was a cave I could crawl into

wishing my shadow was a grave I could fall into

verse 3:

behind, I hear the cries -

echoing -

ahead, a stretch of field with deadly crop

more escapees disappear

with each report I hear

the gunshots ring the air but I don't drop

verse 4:

i pass the open ditch and bags of lime -

wishing my shadow was a cave I could crawl into

wishing my shadow was a grave I could fall into

bridge:

i could fall

i could fall

i could fall into

i could fall

i could fall

i could fall into

verse 5:

i feel the open field

exploding -

claiming lives around me left and right -

attack dogs on the trail

as my lungs begin to fail

with freedom just beyond and within sight

verse 6:

at the murky waterline I fall wounded -

praying the shadow was a cave I could crawl into

praying the shadow was a grave I could fall into

wishing the puddle was a lake I could dive into...

COPYRIGHT

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