von Martin Trappen

Thousands of men go to war to fight for

Politics which they don’t understand

Murder people who they never met

I

Brother will kill brother

Spilling blood across the land

Killing for religion

Something I don’t understand

War, huh, yeah,

What is it good for

Generals gathered in their masses,

Just like witches at black masses.

Evil minds that plot destruction,

Sorcerer of death’s construction.

Absolutely nothing

Say it again, y’all

What do you mean, ‘I don’t believe in God’?

I talk to him every day.

What do you mean, ‘I don’t support your system’?

I go to court when I have to

What do you mean, ‘I can’t get to work on time’?

I got nothing better to do.

And, what do you mean, ‘I don’t pay my bills’?

Why do you think I’m broke? Huh?

War, it ain’t nothing

But a heartbreaker

War, friend only to the undertaker

Why must we kill our own Kind?

If there’s a new way

I’ll be the first in line

But it better work this time

Can you put a price on peace?

 

Ohhh, war, I despise

Because it means destruction

Of innocent lives

War means tears

To thousands of mothers’ eyes

When their sons go to fight

And lose their lives

II

Got in a little hometown jam

So they put a rifle in my hand

Sent me off to a foreign land

To go and kill the [yellow man]

Some folks are born, made to wave the flag

We all became friends

As we learned how to fight

We marched and we sang

A hero of war

Yeah, that’s what I’ll be

Ooh, they send you down to war, [Lord]

You hide in your mansion

As young people’s blood

Flows out of their bodies

And is buried in the mud

And when you ask them, ‘How much should we give?’

Fools like me, who cross the sea

And come to foreign lands

Ooh, they only answer More! More! More! y’all

Bred to kill, not to care

Do just as we say

And when you ask them, ‘How much should we give?’

Fear’s a dangerous thing

It’ll take your God filled soul

Fill it with devils and dust

Ooh, they only answer More! More! More! y’all

Don’t look now to [Israel]

It might be your homeland[s]

What if what you do to survive

Kills the things you love?

And when you ask them, ‘How much should we give?’

Ooh, they only answer More! More! More! y’all

I’ll carry this flag

To the grave if I must

Cause it’s a flag that I love

And a flag that I trust

III

Orders that stand to destroy

Battlefields and slaughter

Now they mean my home and my work

Oh, every night, and every day

A little piece of you is falling away

Well I dreamed of you last night, [Bobbie]

In a field of mud and bone

Your blood began to dry

And the smell began to rise

You will die when I say, you must die

Here we stand and here we fall

History won’t care at all

You will do what I say, when I say

Some heads are gonna roll

You will die when I say, you must die

Murder for freedom the stab in the back

You will do what I say, when I say

Stand on your feet

Everybody’s going to the party, have a real good time

Dancing in the desert, blowing up the sunshine

You will do what I say, when I say

Fight fire with fire

You’ll take my life, but I’ll take yours too

You’ll fire your [musket], but I’ll run you through

So when you’re waiting for the next attack

You’d better stand, there’s no turning back

What the hell are we fighting for?

Just surrender and it won’t hurt at all

You just got time to say your prayers

While you’re waiting for the Hammer to Fall.

You will die when I say, you must die

And as we race towards the human wall

The screams of pain as my comrades fall

We get so near, yet so far away

We were meant to fight another day […]

It comes to you as to us all

Finished here

Greetings, Death

He’s yours to take away

 

You will do what I say, when I say

Run to the hills, run for your lives

IV

I’ve got my finger on the trigger

And tonight faith just ain’t enough

Hear the sound of the falling rain

Coming down like an Armageddon flame (hey!)

The shame, the ones who died without a name

And where the fuck are you?

Ambushed by the spray of lead,

Count the bullet holes in your head.

Offspring sent out to cry,

Fire drops from the sky as the young boys die

And where the fuck are you?

Bodies fill the fields I see, hungry heroes’ end

No one to play soldier now, no one to pretend

Why don’t presidents fight the war?

Lying, dying, screaming in pain.

Begging, pleading, bullets drop like rain.

Everything happened so quickly.

I felt I was about to leave hell

Why do they always send the poor?

Mines explode, pain sheers through your brain,

[Radical amputation], this is insane.

Why don’t presidents fight the war?

And as I lay there gazing at the sky

My body’s numb and my throat is dry

And as I lay forgotten and alone

Without a tear, I draw my parting groan, [oh, oh]

Why do they always send the poor?

Looking back, I realize, nothing have I done

Left to die with only friend

Alone I clench my gun

Why don’t presidents fight the war?

Why do they always send the poor?

Now in darkness world stops turning,

Ashes where the bodies burning.

Day of judgement God is calling,

On their knees the war pig[’s] crawling.

Begging mercy for their sins,

Satan laughing spreads his wings.

Hear the dogs howling out of key

To a hymn called ‘Faith and Misery’ (hey!)

And bleed, the company [lost the war] today

V

Now that the war is through with me

I’m waking up, I can[not] see

That there is not much left of me

No man can quell the suffering

The hell and all the grief it brings

Can I get another amen? [(Amen!)]

Soldier boy, made of clay

Now an empty shell

A Hero of War

Is that what they see?

Just medals and scars

So damn proud of me

Twenty-one, only son

But he served us well

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary

Out by the gas fires of the refinery

I’m ten years burning down the road

Nowhere to run, ain’t got nowhere to go

Can I get another amen? [(Amen!)]

MIA, yeah right, you think they give a fuck?

You’re just pawns in the game off the board

Brainwashed to the point where you kill at

The drop of a dime

But it’s not called a crime

It was just before dawn

As the[y]Held back the enemy tanks for a while

And the [Anzio bridgehead] was held for the price

Of a few hundred ordinary lives.

We’re not about to make that same mistakes right[?]

Can I get another amen? […]

End

Far from home, all alone, it’s a sin

All you get in return is a shit shallow grave

Cause in war there’s no way you can win

Love the land and fellow man

Peace is what we strive to have

Some folks have none of this

Hatred and prejudice

I won’t watch my poor mama cry no more

Muthafuck your [red, white and blue!]

All segments taken from Music. No lyrics changed, except where noted with square brackets. List of quoted songs:

Anthrax: Indians (From ‘Among the Living’, 1987)

Black Sabbath: War Pigs (From ‘Paranoid’, 1970)

Body Count: Shallow Graves (From ‘Born Dead’, 1994)

Bob Dylan: Masters of War (From ‘The Freewheelin‘ Bob Dylan’, 1963)

Bruce Springsteen: Born in the USA (From ‘Born in the USA’, 1984)

Devils and Dust (From ‘Devils and Dust’, 2005)

Creedence Clearwater Revival: Fortunate Son (From ‘Willy and the Poor Boys’, 1969)

Edwin Starr: War (Single, 1970)

Greenday: Holiday (From ‘American Idiot’, 2004)

Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills (From ‘The Number of the Beast’, 1982)

The Trooper (From ‘Piece of Mind’, 1983)

Judas Priest: Some Heads Are Gonna Roll (From ‘Defenders of the Faith’, 1984)

War (From ‘Nostradamus’, 2008)

Megadeth: Peace Sells (From ‘Peace Sells… but Who’s Buying?’, 1986)

Holy Wars…The Punishment Due (From ‘Rust in Peace’, 1990)

Metallica: Fight Fire with Fire (From ‘Ride the Lightning’, 1984)

Disposable Heroes (From ‘Master of Puppets’, 1986)

One (From ‘…And Justice for All’, 1988)

Ministry: N.W.O. (From ‘Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs’, 1992)

Pink Floyd: When the Tigers Broke Free (Single, 1982)

Queen: Hammer to Fall (From ‘The Works’, 1984)

Rise Against: Hero of War (From ‘Appeal to Reason’, 2008)

Sepultura: Beneath the Remains (From ‘Beneath the Remains’, 1989)

Refuse/Resist (From ‘Chaos A.D.’, 1993)

Slayer: Mandatory Suicide (From, ‘South of Heaven’, 1988)

System of a Down: B.Y.O.B. (From ‘Mezmerize’, 2004)