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lyrics

That old rocking chair creaks like a bitch
gotta hunt down some 3-1 oil
screen door hangs by a rusted hinge
and my dog ain't been too loyal
she's been spending her time at neighbor's
guess she gets a better deal down there
the sun just sits like a hangman's noose
whenever I sit and stare

I've gone 60 but feel much older now
youth passes like a novel's page
I watched my buddies dying
and my heart turned stone with rage
War makes sinning easy
and with orders you must comply
so I became just what they wanted
on that morning in My Lai

Came home to a farm that looked different
from when I left to go to war
the drought had left it only brown
where there'd been green before
so I took my medals and struck out
and went searching for a home
and the faces all came with me
like a greaser and his comb

My Lai My Lai My Lai My Lai

Big city chewed then spit me back
I guess she didn't like the taste
how can a man live day to day
and not be given time to waste?
I looked up some boys who came back
but it all seemed different now
all we knew to talk about
was to ask each other how

The ties that used to bind me
didn't hold me down no more
when the soil underneath you feet
is someone else's floor
you're like a bird forgetting how to fly
tell yourself again and again
that this world don't owe you nothing
but the chance to make amends

My Lai My Lai My Lai My Lai

I've buried wives and children
and memories in the ground
watched the paint start peeling
and my belly getting round
empty bottles in the hallway
empty scrap books in the drawer
would things have turned out different
if I never went to war?

MY eyes ain't what they used to be
and I can't hear too good
spend my days with a pen knife
whittling a piece of wood
Preacher says my soul's on fire
and only God can douse the flame
but I remember when I did my killing
that I did it in his name

My Lai My Lai My Lai My Lai

I'm too old for forgiveness
can't undo what I've done
with the back of my weathered hands
or the waving of a gun
my liver she up and left me
and my heart's on the next train
all I need is the strength to stop the blood
from running through my veins

I remember the little children
and the women who held them tight
and the smoke rising from the village
that turned morning into night
my eyes just rolled back in my head
and with all that that implies
I too was KIA....
that morning in My Lai

My Lai My Lai My Lai My Lai

credits

from Love and Streets, released June 1, 2012

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Tom Flannery Scranton, Pennsylvania

"One of the most gifted songwriters to emerge at the turn of the century"
-- The All Music Guide

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