Apologies for the title, but I did want to be catchy. Not to interrupt the latest struggle of "Obama and Edwards, who is Great? And who is Greatest?", but a great man just released a CD and said some wonderful things. Some things we should get behind.
Patterson Hood is one of the co-founders of the Southern Rock band Drive-By Truckers. Along with Mike Cooley (who has written some gems himself but that would be another topic) the Truckers have been putting album after great album out.
On their latest disc "Brighter Than Creations Dark" (released today) Patterson has two excellent anti-war tunes. On the jump you'll find lyrics and some more thoughts from myself.
Right off the bat "That Man I Shot" speaks for itself.
That man I shot, He was trying to kill me
He was trying to kill me He was trying to kill me
That man I shot I didn’t know him
I was just doing my job, maybe so was he
That man I shot, I was in his homeland
I was there to help him but he didn’t want me there
I did not hate him, I still don’t hate him
He was trying to kill me and I had to take him down
That man I shot, I still can see him
When I should be sleeping, tossing and turning
He’s looking at me, eyes looking through me
Break out in cold sweats when I see him standing there
That man I shot, shot not in anger
There’s no denying it was in self-defense
But when I close my eyes, I still can see him
I feel his last breath in the calm dead of night
That man I shot, He was trying to kill me
He was trying to kill me, He was trying to kill me
Sometimes I wonder if I should be there?
I hold my little ones until he disappears
I hold my little ones until he disappears
I hold my little ones until we disappear
And I’m not crazy or at least I never was
But there’s this big thing that can’t get rid of
That man I shot did he have little ones
That he was so proud of that he won’t see grow up?
Was walking down his street, maybe I was in his yard
Was trying to do good I just don’t understand
When I first heard this, I immediately started thinking of the story recently of how 1 in 5 Iraq vets have "mild traumatic brain damage." The damned pundits want to brow-beat those of us against the war with their "the surge is working" sign, but where are they accounting those who come back broken? What, just because their physical body goes on you don't count the life that has been changed forever? How many ticking time bombs across the nation will we have as damaged psyche's are inevitably discarded and forgotten about?
For some more words that speak for themselves, please read "The Home Front" by Patterson Hood
The hours creep across the face
As she paces across the floor
She can’t even get to sleep since Tony went to war
She feels bitchslapped and abandoned
By a world she thought she knew
Cold beyond comprehension as their little girl turns two
Now they’re saying on the flat screen
They ain’t found a reason yet
We’re all bogged down in a quagmire
And there ain’t no end to it
No Nine Eleven or Uranium to pin the bullshit on
She’s left standing on the home front
The two of them alone
Couldn't have said it better myself. I know we're in a bit of a struggle for the soul of the party, but lets not forget the big picture and what we're REALLY going to the polls to do come November.