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Lonely soldier go home
Lonely, but never alone
Good eyes see nothing to shoot
Good feet feel good giving up good boots
So ask your father how'd you fall
Ask your father how'd you fall
Like a leaf sitting on the ground
Good for nothing 'cept kicking around
She died with her hands stretched out
She died with a hungry mouth
She died with her mind full of doubt
And thoughts of weakening
So may your river never dry
And may your mouth never lie
And may you be satisfied to never know why
Sometimes someone just wants to die
So where'd you get those cuts in your hand
I thought I told you about playing in the sand
There's always someone careless with glass
There's always questions you don't want to ask.
She died with her hands stretched out
She died with a hungry mouth
She died with her mind full of doubt
And thoughts of weakening
So may your river never dry
And may your mouth never lie
And may you be satisfied to never know why
Sometimes someone just wants to die
So lonely soldier go home
Lonely, but never alone
Good eyes see nothing to shoot
Good feet feel good giving up good boots
Lonely, but never alone
Good eyes see nothing to shoot
Good feet feel good giving up good boots
So ask your father how'd you fall
Ask your father how'd you fall
Like a leaf sitting on the ground
Good for nothing 'cept kicking around
She died with her hands stretched out
She died with a hungry mouth
She died with her mind full of doubt
And thoughts of weakening
So may your river never dry
And may your mouth never lie
And may you be satisfied to never know why
Sometimes someone just wants to die
So where'd you get those cuts in your hand
I thought I told you about playing in the sand
There's always someone careless with glass
There's always questions you don't want to ask.
She died with her hands stretched out
She died with a hungry mouth
She died with her mind full of doubt
And thoughts of weakening
So may your river never dry
And may your mouth never lie
And may you be satisfied to never know why
Sometimes someone just wants to die
So lonely soldier go home
Lonely, but never alone
Good eyes see nothing to shoot
Good feet feel good giving up good boots
Lyrics submitted by spastic_kitty
Track duration: 04:26
"Lonely Soldier" as written by Damien George Rice
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The song is about a single pregnant girl (lonely but never alone) that, after many tries, killed herself. She was the lonely soldier. It is really sad.
That is what I ve heard. It may be wrong and sorry for my bad English.
“Lonely Soldier” came about in 2004, around the time of an anti–Iraq War campaign in Ireland. The U.S. was using Shannon Airport there for military planes, and a lot of Irish people were not very happy about that. So I did my best to imagine being a soldier and what it would be like to shoot someone I don’t know—in particular, to kill an innocent woman who had startled me while in action. This is how I was able to connect, because it’s mostly men and testosterone and ego that go off to war and fight and kill, and it’s mostly women and children who die. I would love for women to rise up and balance the energy on the planet some more. It’s all a bit cock driven right now—bring on the era of the bosom.
I LOVE @nothin_unusual_22's interpretation though. 'Tis the beauty of art; interpretation is part of the appreciation.
This song is about a girl who inevitably commits suicide. She lived her whole life thinking that she's alone. She's one of those people who feels lonely in a room full of people. She's a good person but sometimes people are fill with so much pain we can't see. And he's telling her so ask her "Father" what happened when she gets to the other side.
She hurts herself but sometimes these are the hardest question to ask someone that you care about. She dies always wanting more. She's a lonely soldier, fighting her own personal war. And when she dies, she's going home where hopefully she will find peace.
A soldier has returned from war, a changed man. "Good feet feel good giving up good boots" shows that he is starting feel at peace, and wants to return to his previous life; but "good eyes see nothing to shoot" shows that war has changed him, and he can't readjust to normal life - perhaps he never will again.
While the soldier was at war, his mother passed away; and his father is angry and upset with him for not being with his mother when she died. Verse 2 is his father greeting him as he returns home - not welcoming him, but saying he's worthless for letting his mother die without seeing her again.
The chorus is also told by his father.
The first four lines of the chorus explain the sad circumstances of his mother's death. She was poor and hungry, and uncertain whether her son was alive or dead. She wanted to see him again before she died, but he never came. "May your river never dry, and may your mouth never lie" is his mother's last message to him, which she told his father to give to him. The final 2 lines of the chorus is an extra message from his father - who is almost disowning the soldier.
The third verse, I suppose, is a kind of alternate version of the story. The soldier returns home just in time to see his mother on her deathbed. Instead of saying goodbye, his mother tries to act normally, asking where the cuts on his hands are from. The cuts are from the war, but she attempts to return to when the soldier was a boy; suggesting that he got them from messing around with glass.
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In all this is a very sad story. The soldier's mother has either died, hungry, poor, and uncertain; or she has lived just long enough to see her son again before passing away.
His father has lost his wife; and sees the soldier as a worthless son who abandoned his family. As he disowns the soldier, he is left alone, with all of his family gone.
But the saddest character of all is the soldier himself. He has returned from the horrors of war, with a darker view of the world; and an immense feeling of guilt simply for surviving where so many men died. He has a very hard time trying to readjust to a normal life - he will probably never be the same again. On top of this, he discovers that his mother has died (or is dieing); and when he returns to his parents, his father thinks he is worthless and disowns him for abandoning the family.
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Overall, I would give this song 10/10. This is a very rare event - only six songs in the entire world have earned a 10/10 from me - and this is the only one with words I can understand. The others are either instrumental; sung in Icelandic (which I sadly can't speak); or the vocals don't actually mean anything.
There is a soldier...he is a person coming to terms with the actions of his war-laden life...about lifting guilt off one's shoulders...about making a decision to NOT kill/or participate in war anymore.
...asking his father...either is real father or god...either way...when one is dead...one is just as a dead leaf...it doesn't really matter how he/it got there.
His mother is dying helpless and sad unable to continue because her son has given his life. Why her son chose to join the military maybe??? Not knowing fully well how he really died...she wasn't there...but it seems as though she knows he is free now.
She dies hungry for the knowledge of her son's life...and his death...
She thinks of her baby and how she once taught him to be careful...and where did he get the scars on his hands
Maybe her son really wanted to die...or maybe she did after his death...
Maybe she killed herself because she couldn't deal with the death of her son.
Good for nothing 'cept kicking around
oh and i pretty much agree with nothin unusual 22..
kinda hard to read tho =/
One of his best!!!