I was there in the winter of '64 When we camped in the ice at Nashville's doors Three hundred miles our trail had lead We barely had time to bury our dead When the Yankees charged and the colors fell Overton hill was a living hell When we called retreat it was almost dark I died with a grapeshot in my heart
Say a prayer for peace For every fallen son Set my spirit free Let me lay down my gun Sweet mother Mary I'm so tired But I can't come home 'til the last shot's fired
In June of 1944 I waited in the blood of Omaha's shores Twenty-one and scared to death My heart poundin' in my chest I almost made the first seawall When my friends turned and saw me fall I still smell the smoke, I can taste the mud As I lay there dying from a loss of blood
Say a prayer for peace For every fallen son Set my spirit free Let me lay down my gun Sweet mother Mary I'm so tired But I can't come home 'til the last shot's fired
I'm in the fields of Vietnam, The mountains of Afghanistan And I'm still hopin', waitin' prayin' I did not die in vain
Say a prayer for peace For every fallen son Set our spirits free Let us lay down our guns Sweet mother Mary we're so tired But we can't come home 'til the last shot's fired 'Til the last shot's fired
[Choir:] Say a prayer for peace (for peace) For our daughters and our sons Set our spirits free (set us free) Let us lay down our guns
[Trace:] Sweet mother Mary, we're so tired But we can't come home (No we can't come home)