AMERICA UNDER FIRE

13 Jan 1970 version

Conquered freak soldiers return from the war
And the stares of their countrymen look just as they did before
And the women whom they love have all turned into whores
And the band still can't play any better than before

And I'm tired and I think I will remain
For America's under fire, the sky's turning grey

They step off the train and wonder who's to blame
For all this madness and sorrow
The streets are filled with blind men, all viciously insane
You stand there and they hand you a cup and a cane

And I'm tired and I think I will remain
For America's under fire, and the sky's turning grey

And the bombs they go boom like a big red balloon in the evening sky
And the rockets they burst and shatter the earth, making the little girls cry
And the bells they are ringing and the children are singing oh but they don't know why
And the aeroplanes are scrapping and the people are laughing
They know not what it is to cry
To cry

Mother and daddy, give them a kiss and shake his hand
Congratulations my son on becoming a man
And the generals can see the reason
Theres such a high percentage of treason
They feel, they're quite sure that it must just be the season

And I'm tired and I think I will remain
For America's under fire, and the sky's turning grey
And I'm tired and I think I will remain
For America's under fire, and the sky's turning grey

America, America, god shares his grace on me
And crown thy hood with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea

Steel Mill 1970 song about political and military matters in the USA in that period.

This version AMERICA UNDER FIRE of was performed on 13 Jan 1970 at The Matrix, San Francisco, CA.

A vicious, cynical attack on the Vietnam war that ironically ends with a snippet of the Star Spangled Banner, later to appear as the intro to BORN IN THE USA on the Human Touch tour of 1992. In this track, Bruce contemplates the uselessness of war, a theme he would revisit late in the Born In The USA tour, with a great cover version of Edwin Starr's WAR.