Alive (My Iraqi War Diary, Part 1)
Lyrical Tease
Riding in my tank, I might call an air strike
Some might say that’s unsportsman-like
Sometimes I make mistakes, but there’s nothing I can do
’cause you gotta kill them before they kill you
Salute me, prosecute me, why not just take my gun and shoot me,
Cause I don’t think I’ll make it out alive..
Credits:
Words & Music,
Performance,
Production: Rob Frail
Awards
- 6/22/08 Lyrics Published Shabdaguchha, International Journal of Poetry
- 8/2/07 Hon. Mention 2007 Singer/Songwriter Awards, Round 3
- 6/30/07 Finalist 11th Annual Unisong International Song Contest www.unisong.com/Winners11.aspx
- 10/25/06 Hon. Mention American Songwriter Magazines’ Lyric Contest, Nov/Dec 2006 www.americansongwriter.com
Back Story
I hate the Arab, I hate the Jew,
I hate what this war has reduced me to
which I mutated to Shia & Sunni to make it current.
Musically, the Verse is stolen, I mean influenced, by ‘Life During Wartime’ (Talking Heads);
the Chorus by an old Al Kooper song, ‘In Due Time.’
Lyrics
(© 2008, You’d Be Surprised; All Rights Reserved)
I hate the Shia, the Sunni, too
I hate what this war has reduced me to
I hate my government, I ain’t exactly loyal
I’m a killing machine just looking for some oil
I gotta fine girl back at home
we write letters, talk on my cell phone
I just hope when this is all through
I don’t end up hating her too
Chorus 1:
Salute me, prosecute me, why not just take my gun and shoot me,
Cause I don’t think I’ll make it out alive
You gotta help me make it alive,
Forgive me if I don’t make it alive
I got no business being alive, alive, alive
Verse 2:
Riding in my tank, I might call an air strike
Some might say that’s unsportsman-like
Sometimes I make mistakes, but there’s nothing I can do
’cause you gotta kill them before they kill you
OK, so here we are, guarding this pipeline;
when this embed comes up, says he’s with Nightline
He asks if were bringing ‘em democracy,
I said “you want the answer with or without hypocrisy”
Chorus 2:
Salute us, prosecute us, or just take our guns and shoot us
Cause I don’t think we’re gonna make it alive
You gotta help us make it alive,
Forgive us if we don’t make it alive
Everyday I wonder why we’re alive, alive, alive
Bridge:
Out in the desert, the grains of sand fly,
each one’s an enemy that wants me to die
We’re bringing democracy & the freedom it allows,
but what good’s a vote when they blow up your house?
Why do people always have to say
it’s the Hand of God when things go their way?
There’s a rocket comin’ at you, looks like a direct hit,
and you can see God’s fingerprints all over it.
Verse 3:
I’m a killing machine, I’m not supposed to feel, but if you
saw my nightmares, you’d swear they’re real.
Those TV ads make it look like fun, but that
stops pretty quick when the blood starts to run
When your out on a patrol,
there are things you just can’t control
Sometimes it’s live, sometimes it’s a dud,
you just pray you don’t lose too much blood
After I was hit, I was tended by a nurse
She took me her arms, said it could’a been worse
Sometimes a blessing comes from a curse
Hope had a face just like hers
Chorus 3:
Salute me, prosecute me, but whatever you do, don’t let them shoot me
Cause I’m gonna make it out alive
She helped me make it out alive,
We’re gonna make it out alive, before we die
Gonna make it out alive, alive
Gonna make it out alive
Publication In Shabdaguccha
On June 22, 2008, I was honored to have the lyrics to Alive published in the tenth anniversay issue of Shabdaguchha, an international journal of poetry, published in eight countries, edited by Bengali poet Hassanal Abdullah.
Left to right: Rob Frail, Hassanal Abdullah, Leigh Harrison, Rafiq Azad (all the way from Bangla Desh)
Rob,
The lyrics bring the listener into the horrors of war by showing what happens to people when propaganda surrounds them. The words also show how a soldier has an ordinary life back home and wants to share a relationship.
I worry about the direction of the anger. The character is the average guy who doesn’t know the complexity of the players. That’s great, but a difference lies between the direction of this soldier’s anger and Tom Joad, for example.
The anger here is against all Shia and Sunni and the government. But Joad’s anger went against those who beat up a guy or took away the house. Joad did see a government farm that treated people fairly. Did the soldier not see some government official being blocked by a another? Maybe different players within the government meant the anger should be directed to those who spouted the phony propaganda.
Let me know what you think,
Tom Pope
Tom,
As in ‘Noose,’ I went for the point of view of the ‘average’ grunt.
I know that many soldiers, after a while, hate their enemies, in fact are trained to & are desensitized to killing.
That’s a Quality Soldier, what the military trains for; their survival (and that of their fellow grunts) depends on this;
there’s no room for caring about the enemy (and in a guerrilla war, who knows who the enemy is? safer to kill the whole damned village).
Eg, “Sometimes I make mistakes, but there’s nothing I can do, cause ya gotta kill them before they kill you.”
Though not intentional, the attitude is not very caring either.
Also, many soldiers question the mission; though not mentioned by name, Iraq is obviously the setting,
a country that had nothing to do w/9/11;
So there is lots to be angry at the govt about, including the lack of proper armor on the Abrams tanks,
and the many contractor scandals: at least one soldier was electrocuted cause of faulty wiring; billions in cash gone AWOL, etc, etc.
So I was going for anger at all this, but also the fear, eg: “If you saw my nightmares, you’d swear they’re real.”
War is largely anger, fear, and boredom (lots of waiting), but boredom is not that interesting, so I didn’t write about it.
I wasn’t going for a Joad-like guy.
Thanx for writing, again.