This song is a work in progress....not finished, my rental on the recorder was up!
Story behind the song
The classic rock-n-roll group that I played with from 2000-2007 practiced in the back of a cell-phone store that belonged to one of the two female singers. The group included the cell phone store owner, a general contractor, a family court judge, a bank vice-president, a retired purchasing agent and Vietnam vet and a kindergarden teacher.
Both girls in the band had grown sons that had decided to join the military at about the same time. One night at practice the girls disappeared, I went to look for them and found them outside in the dark, leaning against each other crying. It occurred to me later that for nearly every soldier that had ever taken the field in every war, from every country, since the beginning of time there was a mother waiting and worrying at home.
Lyrics
A GENERATIONS BURDEN
Two women stand outside a shop, speaking quietly, standing near
Their sons have just joined the Army, their faces are lined with fear.
Tryin’ to comfort one another two boys have signed the line.
their boys will be their boys they say and they will both be fine.
CHORUS
not so long ago to defenseless babes they crooned
As they looked into that innocent face and promised them the moon,
They promised to protect them in all things that they do,
But now the babes grow and go away all too soon.
It seems that only yesterday the big catastrophe
Was the bully that lived down the street or a small scrape on a knee
Things that Mom’s can handle and take it all in stride
But now the tears are falling, their fear they can not hide.
How many decades have the mothers wept and cried
How many times sons go to serve while mothers wait behind
How many boys go away and men return in their place.
Every generation bears its burden in the cycle of time and space.
CHORUS
Every generation has to make a common stand
From Germany’s hedgerow covered fields to Iwo Jima’s sand
From the jungles of Viet Nam to hills in Afganistan
Many mothers’ long night of dread with son’s in foreign lands