10000 Maniacs: "Anthem For Doomed Youth"
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[ music: john lombardo/lyric: john lombardo adapts wilfred owen ] For whom the bells toll When sentenced to die The stuttering rifles Will stifle the cry The monstrous anger The fears rapid rattle A desert inferno Kids dying like cattle Dont tell me Were not prepared Ive seen todays marine Hes eighteen and hes eager He can be quite mean No mockries for them No prayers or bells The demented choirs The wailing of shells The boys holding candles On untraveled roads The fear spreads like fire As shrapnel explodes I think its wrong To conscript our youth Against their will When plenty of our citizenry Really like to kill What sign posts will lead To armageddons fires What bugles will call them From crowded grey shires The women sit quiet With death on their minds A slow dusk descending The drawing of blinds Make the hunters all line up Its their idea of fun And let those be forgiven Who never owned a gun Was it him or me Or the wailing of the dead The laughing soldiers Cast their lots And you can cut the dread |