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Initiation Rites

from Windows by Steve and Kristi Nebel

about

Vietnam veteran talking to his PTSD buddy.

lyrics

Initiation Rites

You say it’s something that I called you.
The only thing I’ve called you is my friend.
The war is longtime over.
It’s only in your mind you kill again.
The heroes are forgotten.
The use for them was only in their time.
Let us drink to fallen comrades;
Things have happened in our lives much worse than dying.

Was it that kid you killed near Cu Chi
When you thought a toy he had was a grenade?
Or that old man out of Tay Nihn,
There wasn’t anybody’s life for you to save.
Was it your friend from New York City?
He finally killed the pain of this life’s hell.
You can’t help it but remember,
And there’s noone here to understand or tell.

Chorus:
Initiation rites!
We turned twenty-one in Vietnam.
Initiation rites!
Some of us survived to come back home.
Some of us are left to wander
Through our lives and through this world all alone.

Was it the dreams you had of dying
In a river of the blood you thought you’d spilled?
You can’t forget you were a killer,
No matter how you tried to hide your thoughts with pills.
Is it the whiskey or the heroin
To kill the pain nobody understands?
Is it the standing on the outside
Where you cannot see a brotherhood of man.

Chorus

Now it’s early morning
We throw our bottles hard against the wall.
With the broken glass comes tears,
Tears so long you’ve not allowed to fall.
How can one year turn to forty,
Still those memories will not leave you alone.
Our lives are like those shattered bottles
And there’s noplace on this earth we can call home.

Chorus & repeat
Some of us are left to wander
Through our lives and through this world all alone.

credits

from Windows, released March 11, 2020
Steve Nebel - lead vocal, guitar
Kristi Nebel - backup vocal, bass guitar

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Steve and Kristi Nebel image

Steve and Kristi Nebel Tacoma, Washington

Steve and Kristi Nebel bring passion, finesse, and beauty with their songs of social justice, knife edge observations, and pure, simple love. They have traveled extensively having done nine tours in UK folk clubs and festivals. They have recorded more than ten CDs, mostly of their own songs. ... more

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