The Patriot's Dream
(Gordon Lightfoot)

Gordon Lightfoot 1972


The songs of the wars are as old as the hills
They cling like the rust on the cold steel that kills
They tell of the boys who went down to the tracks
In a patriotic manner with the cold steel on their backs.

The patriot's dream is as old as the sky 
It lives in the lust of a cold callous lie 
Let's drink to the men who got caught by the chill 
Of the patriotic fever and the cold steel that kills.

(bridge)

The train pulled away on that glorious night 
The drummer got drunk and the bugler got tight 
While the boys in the back sang a song of good cheer
While riding off to glory in the spring of their years.

The patriot's dream still lives on today 
It makes mothers weep and it makes lovers pray 
Let's drink to the men who got caught by the chill 
Of the patriotic fever and the cold steel that kills.

(bridge)

Well there was a sad, sad lady, weeping all night long 
She received a sad, sad message, from a voice in the telephone 
Her children were all sleeping, as she waited out the dawn 
How could she tell those children that their father was shot down.

So she took them to her side that day and she told them one by one 
Your father was a good man, ten thousand miles from home
He tried to do his duty, it took him straight to hell 
He might be in some prison, I hope he's treated well.

Well there was a young girl watching in the early afternoon 
When she heard the name of someone who said he'd be home soon 
And she wondered how they got him, but the papers did not tell 
There would be no sweet reunion, there would be no wedding bells.

So she took herself into her room and she turned the bed sheets down 
She cried into the silken folds of her new wedding gown 
He tried to do his duty, it took him straight to hell 
He might be in some prison, I hope he's treated well.

Well there was an old man sitting in his mansion on the hill 
He thought of his good fortune, the time he'd yet to kill 
Well he called to his wife one day, "Come sit with me awhile" 
Then turning toward the sunset, he smiled a wicked smile.

"Well I'd like to say I'm sorry for the sinful deeds I've done 
But let me first remind you, I'm a patriotic son"
They tried to do their duty, it took 'em straight to hell 
They might be in some prison, I hope they're treated well.

(bridge)

The songs of the wars are as old as the hills
They cling like the rust on the cold steel that kills
They tell of the boys who went down to the tracks
In a patriotic manner with the cold steel on their backs.

The train pulled away on that glorious night
The drummer got drunk and the bugler got tight
While the boys in the back sang a song of good cheer
While riding off to glory in the spring of their years.

The patriot's dream still lives on today
It makes mothers weep and it makes lovers pray
Let's drink to the men who got caught by the chill
Of the patriotic fever and the cold steel that kills.




(Transcribed by David Story - February 2013)