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MAGELLAN LYRICS
"Hundred Year Flood" (2002)
1. The Great Goodnight
2. Family Jewels (instrumental)
3. Brother's Keeper
1. The Great Goodnight
I was only four
I don't remember you
I have seen your pictures my whole life
Brother...in this great goodnight.
A black frame still protects those two
letters from the President
They start out: On this day in May 1966
for wounds received in action
Still hanging here after all of this time
right next to your purple heart
in this great goodnight.
I do have this one hazy memory
I think you had me up on your shoulders
playing on top of the world for a moment
that couldn't last (it never does)
I love this black and white of you
playing the harmonica like a giant at our old house
sitting on that green sofa
You were only 19 but to this kid
you were probably more like 43.
I read an old clipping from the paper
It said they prayed for you
at the church
Now I know everyone
in the photograph
Long before the memorial rose
looking so much different than today
I haven't touched that stone of names
but I have a tracing of yours
On this day in May 1966
for wounds received in action
Still hanging here after all of this time
right next to your purple heart
in this great goodnight
But for some unknown reason
we never discussed it much growing up
I pieced together the
whole story out of
that old trunk left in the attic
You'd been gone only 6 weeks
when the Army brass came
to the door knocking
Breaking the news -breaking our hearts
They broke the new to mom
she took it worse than anyone
She really believed- 'he didn't have to go
the draft missed him by a mile'
You could have walked away
but instead you had your final day in Vietnam
When they broke the new to mom
all I can say...she took it worse than anyone
She really believed he would make it back home
'He didn't have to go to Vietnam'
Here is what thay said;
They claymore went off and you went down
and you would have been ok
you would have been all right
but they could not get to you
The VC were everywhere
So the orders came....
We can't pull Jack out
For him it's getting late
But a hundred men
won't see tomorrow
if we don't quietly wait
'We can't pull Jack out'...
You knew exactly
what was happening
-why nobody came
You were a good soldier,
keeping still
holding out as long as you did
On this day in May 1966...
Within an hour you relaxed
somehow everything seemed ok
Cause in your soul you knew
your time in Nam had passed away
...my brother.
With your shirt wet with blood
and your forehead cool
You thanked the Lord
for this Great Goodnight
In this moment of acceptance
this Great Goodnight
brought you a peace
you'd never known
In this Great Goodnight
the war raging on
in this Great Goodnight
.....my brother....
But brother let me tell you
it's what I know
so maybe one day
we can fill in the blanks
Until we meet again - brother
I'll choose this memory
We'll keep remembering
what you did
in that great goodnight
You couldn't hear the medic
yelling in your ear
While you dreamed of this
kid back at home
saying pick me up
so we can play
Brother let me tell you -
I remember
And I think you made it
in that Great Goodnight
In fact, it's the only thing
I remember
from that Great Goodnight
Well brother let me tell you...
it's what I know.
Maybe one day we will
stand together
Until we meet again
I'll choose this memory
and thank you guys
for what you did
and what you tried to do
in this Great Goodnight
On this day in May
for wounds received in action
...and now I see, my brother
This is for you.
And someday you will see that this song
was for you, my brother.
Now that dat has joined you -
I'm sure that he would agree
got a son on my shoulder
and lots of work to do, brother.
......like was done with me.
2. Family Jewels (instrumental)
3. Brother's Keeper
I've seen enough
of this thing at work called cynicism
And I'm tired of hearing twisted thoughts
with bent expressions
I see no reason to be brother's keeper
'cause at this point
all I need is something more
In fact, this could be hard for me
it could take everything my spirit,
mind and body can endure
The cynic in me tried to cheat
A pathetic excuse that deceived me
can't let it lead me
Just a lie -
the biggest ever.
I saw that man
on the street with empty eyes
Not a soul stopped
and said a word to him
My thoughts: 'Don't get involved,
its not safe, I'm late for work, he'll just ask for money'
Brother's Keeper
Brother's Keeper
How much proof do I need?
How much evidence will it take
to shake me down to the core?
But when its my life at stake?
See, that's different now-
Its priority -now I care.
Brother's Keeper
Just act now brother's keeper
Don't complain - mama's sleeper
Be a father - not a weeper
Get off my soap box
Don't want to be a creeper
brother's keeper.
Just look around me brother's keeper
standing still 'til we meet the reaper?
No chance of boredom mama's sleeper
way too much work to do brother's keeper
The brutal cold from Yugoslavia
cools the mist of death in Macedonia
while the hunger pains in Africa
I just plant my flag in 'absentia'
(repeat chorus)
I need something to do
something real
It might pay me back a hundred times
and it might not
My cynic inside screams
I know pay back's a bitch
My thought respond with just a whisper
'Can't listen to my cynic - least of all my cynic'.
I need something to do
something real
It might pay me back a hundred times
and it might not
I sure as hell am my brother's keeper
might as well be my brother's keeper
At least I figured out that much
'can't listen to my cynic - least of all my cynic'.
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