The War Lyrics

You played guitar for hours

Till all the songs became the one

You screamed when you were born

And your fingers went numb



Stumps of wood at the end of your hand

You sang in a language no one could understand

Your lips were thick with quicksand

And now you're in a band.





There's a war that's passed this way before

You can read it on the paving stones

Black with tracks of tanks and wrath

White with powdered bones.



There's a war between the rich and poor,

The crazy and the sane

There's a war between you and me

And I miss you all the same.



The speakers were loud till the power blew out

And you jumped out into the crowd

Smacked those notes high as you could get

Screamed through your set and two cigarettes.

I said "you are beautiful"

You said "you are beautiful, too,

But I'm more beautiful than you."

I told her that I knew.



A phone call and a Belfast sky

Hanging over my head

Cutting up and measuring

The words I never said.

There's a war between the man and the woman

The complex and the plain.

There's a war between you and me

And I miss you all the same.