19 November 2007

SLEEPIN' IN YOUR DRESS BLUES........i'm mailing this one in with a tear or two........



Jason Isbell recently left THE DRIVE BY TRUCKERS............and he proceeded to write one of the most poignent songs about the war in Iraq i've seen..........i can't sing along with chorus without choking up...........because i can't help putting myself in the shoes of the first person no matter how i try...........and the continued loss of life over there makes me shiver.....do yourself a favor and seek out this music.......i won't include a link......you do the work....



What can you see from your window?
I can't see anything from mine.
Flags on the side of the highway
and scripture on grocery store signs.
Maybe eighteen was too early.
Maybe thirty or forty is too.
Did you get your chance to make peace with the man
before he sent down his angels for you?

Mamas and grandmamas love you
'cause that's all they know how to do.
You never planned on the bombs in the sand
or sleeping in your dress blues.

Your wife said this all would be funny
when you came back home in a week.
You'd turn twenty-two and we'd celebrate you
in a bar or a tent by the creek.
Your baby would just about be here.
Your very last tour would be up
but you won't be back. They're all dressing in black
drinking sweet tea in styrofoam cups.

Mamas and grandmamas love you.
American boys hate to lose.
You never planned on the bombs in the sand
or sleeping in your dress blues.

Now the high school gymnasium's ready,
full of flowers and old legionnaires.
Nobody showed up to protest,
just sniffle and stare.
But there's red, white, and blue in the rafters
and there's silent old men from the corps.
What did they say when they shipped you away
to fight somebody's Hollywood war?

Nobody here could forget you.
You showed us what we had to lose.
You never planned on the bombs in the sand
or sleeping in your dress blues.

No, no you never planned on the bombs in the sand
or sleeping in your dress blues.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great questions. But does HE have answers?

Hard hitting...

Y said...

wow...thank you for sharing that. that one definetly hit me hard. i am a retired Marine. i have friends over there now, and some that didn't make it back. this is an amazing song.
Great addition to the Poetry Train!

Lisa Andel said...

Sorry Stak, all I can think of is this really sucks. All of it sucks. Not the song, but everything else.

Jill said...

I never understoof war and why so many people, young and old, had to die...
Great song you pick out, Stak!!

Julia Phillips Smith said...

Here in Canada, we have soldiers in Afghanistan. On the news last night, two soldiers were fatally hit by a landmine. One of them just returned to duty last week after having gotten engaged. His family will be living these song lyrics exactly.

Really moving, Stak. Thanks for posting them. 'Sleeping in your dress blues' is such a haunting line.

T.A.Chase said...

Haunting song, Stak. I definitely will be looking for this song. Thanks for posting it.

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

Incredible song, Stak. I've got chills.

There is such a long history of violence in my family's past -- all of it. Both parents, the Tour Manager's family -- one thing I've learned is that this violence solves absolutely nothing.

Ann said...

Incredible song. Thank you for posting.

Rhian said...

depressed now.