Slightly OT - Warbird related songs?

[Zachary]

Zack , this one is from the soldiers point of view. Roger Waters wrote this while in Pink Floyd about his father who died in Italy during World War 2. I find it a very moving song , especially because it is based on the truth. The person who put it on youtube has made a nice job on the video too I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjFZLJA3Wqg

wow...that one brings tears to one's eyes. At least mine anyway. Thanks for sharing that clip.

Another one that I like from the infantry's point of view is called "The War" by a Tennessee alt-country band called Lucero (which is a great band by the way). Lyrics below:

I got drafted at 19
Me and a bunch of boys from home
January ’43, drove out to Pine Bluff and signed on
Went to basic south of Birmingham
Put me on west coast bound train
Spent three days out in San Diego
And they shipped me back east again
Left a port out of New York
Slept for months in British rain
Tore it up down in London town
And they shipped me back out again
The preacher said “Boys he who is killed tonight will dine with the Lord in Paradise”
One boy spoke up, said “preacher come on, eat your supper with us"
Never talk about those first days
Lots of friends left behind
But I made it all the way across France
And I fought at the Maginot line
Rode a tank into Belgium
Like them better than the French
Like my daddy, thirty years before
I did my time in a trench
Lots of days there’s no water
But the liquor kept me warm
The cellars were stocked to the ceiling with booze
So I carried a bottle with my gun
The preacher said “Boys he who is killed tonight will dine with the Lord in Paradise”
One boy spoke up, said “preacher come on, eat your supper with us”
Three times I made sergeant
I’m not that kind of man
And pretty much just as quick as I could
I get busted back to private again
Cause taken’ orders never suited me
Giving them out was much worse
I could not stand to get my friends killed
So I took care of myself first
Now I know that don’t sound right
Don’t think too bad of me
Now it keeps me up nights
What I could have done differently
The preacher said “Boys he who is killed tonight will dine with the Lord in Paradise.”
One boy spoke up, said “preacher come on, eat your supper with us”
I’d be no guest at the table of the Lord
His food was not to be mine
‘Cause I cursed His name every chance that I could
And I recon that’s why I’m still alive

[jbell]

"My Old Man" by Steve Goodman. I've only heard it once, on Fathers Day a few years ago. He sings a few lyrics about his dad flying "The Hump" in a C-47. Kinda like my dad..........John

[Old Shep]

Helicopter song called "Sky King" by Kris Kristofferson...hilarious remake of Big Bad John...

Old Shep

[Robbie Stuart]

This thread brings back memories of many moons ago back at the O-Club in Harligen listening to Gerlad Martin, & some of the fellows picking & singing those old WW2 songs. The Lady In Red was always one of my favorites.
Robbie

[shouseknecht]

Richard Thompson's "Al Bowlly's In Heaven" pretty much says it all.

"Well we were heroes then, and the girls were all pretty
And a uniform was a lucky charm, bought you the key to the city
We used to dance the whole night through
While Al Bowlly sang "The Very Thought Of You"
Now Bowlly's in heaven and I'm in limbo now

Well I gave my youth to king and country
But what's my country done for me but sentenced me to misery
I traded my helmet and my parachute
For a pair of crutches and a demob suit
Al Bowlly's in heaven and I'm in limbo now

Hard times, hard hard times
Hostels and missions and dosser's soup lines
Can't close me eyes on a bench or a bed
For the sound of some battle raging in my head

Old friends, you lose so many
You get run around, all over town
The wear and the tear, oh it just drives you down
St Mungo's with its dirty old sheets
Beats standing all day down on Scarborough Street
Al Bowlly's in heaven and I'm in limbo now

Can't stay here, you got to foot-slog
Once in a blue moon you might find a job
Sleep in the rain, you sleep in the snow
When the beds are all taken you've got nowhere to go

Well I can see me now, I'm back there on the dance floor
Oh with a blonde on me arm, red-head to spare
Spit on my shoes and shine in me hair
And there's Al Bowlly, he's up on a stand
Oh that was a voice and that was a band
Al Bowlly's in heaven and I'm in limbo now