[Intro] Draft board letter came in April but my last name was spelled wrong, Preacher pressed a Bible in my palm, said the Lord goes where you go — it's been eleven months of walking and He ain't turned up yet - oh no. [Interlude] Paddy water rising, warm as blood around my boots. Got a number and a rifle and a week to face the truth. Chaplain talks of mercy while the treeline holds its breath — all these months of waiting and we're just trading lives for death. [Interlude] Mama writes on Tuesdays, says the whole town prays for me. I don't tell her 'bout the two we lost before the sun hit 6:03. I was pumping gas some August, I was somebody's kid— now I measure time in body counts and curse the things I did. I'm far from any God tonight, far from the boy I used to be. Caught between my mama's prayer and a captain's harsh decree. And the sky don't answer and the river just runs cold — I'm far from any God out here, far from any God - at all. [Instrumental] Jonesy kept a picture of a farm girl in his hat, said he'd marry her in April if the world would give him that. We wrote his name in marker on a crate and sent it home — Sunday rolled around again and Washington… forgot his name. [Interlude] Radio says to "hold the line," says the numbers look just fine. Calls a boy an "acceptable loss" when the tally's on their side. I don't hate the men out yonder, never learned their names— some coward far from all this horror keeps feeding us the same. [Interlude] Kid from Baton Rouge beside me keeps a transistor turned down low, sweet Motown coming out of Saigon — that's the only church I know. Every hill we take on Tuesday we hand back by Friday night. Half these boys are begging mercy, half are cursing at the light. I'm far from any God tonight, far from the boy I used to be. They can pin a ribbon on my chest and fly me back to Tennessee — 'cause the rain don't stop and the brass don't hear — I'm far from any God out here, far from any God at all. If there's someone up above this, he's too damn far to hear a sound. I've been calling out since winter and nothing ever came back down. Maybe heaven's just a fairy tale pumped into children's early blood— Left my belief beside a river swell — left it rotting in the mud, right there, just where they fell — (my friends) [Guitar Solo] I'm far from any God tonight, far from the boy I used to be. Walking through a war built on their lies, watching all my brothers die. And the sky don't answer and the river don't care — I'm far from any God out here, far from any God - at all. Might be flying home in a plane full of just quiet men — even then - I'll still be far from any God out here. Nineteen… and I'm halfway to nowhere, still far from any God out here
