The song tells the story of a fictional soldier called to duty. While events swirl around him in each verse he remains focused what he has to do and of the anticipation of coming home. The message of "just one more day to go" is what sustains him through all the crap each and every day.
In the reprise I sing about being 17 and lying to get into the service. Today that does not happen (as often), but my grandfather lied at 16 and joined the Navy and went on to be a Master Chief. Pictures of him on a gunboat in China and the Battleship Arizona show a dashing young man taking on the world.
My dad followed his footsteps and joined the Navy 17 years young after high school but after discovering he had suffered Rheumatic fever and had a weak heart valve he was discharged as an E-2, Airman Apprentice.
At age 11, I joined the US Naval League Cadets and later a Sea Cadet going to boot, serving shipboard and endless classes, tests and drill way before I reached the tender age of 18. Those 7 years as a Cadet taught me a lot beyond the general orders of the watch. I chose not to go into the Navy when my older brother turned down his appointment to the Naval Academy and joined the Marines. Dad had died when I was still in junior high and my responsibility was to my family with my older brother gone to serve.
This song is dedicated to those don't make it back. You make us proud. Thank God for those who serve and get us through the night.
SandCrawler
Heard on the evening news, There wasn’t any news
About the war, Going on there
Men taught to take a stand, For ideas not just land
It wasn’t hard, To imagine us there
Times are gone, And things aren’t right
Freedoms hiding, Out of sight
When I ask, Are you coming home
He says
Just, one more day to go Yesterday they said we would know soon
Just, one more day to go Yesterday they said we would know soon
Taking out a tyrants blight, Good men fighting for right
A good man lied, To get us there
Doesn’t really matter at all, Once good men start to fall
Time to take, Evil down
Times are gone, And things aren’t right
Freedoms hiding, In the night
When I ask, Are you coming home
He says
Just, one more day to go Yesterday they said we would know soon
Just, one more day to go Yesterday they said we would know soon
Hours spent in the sun, Days growing into one
Hey another one gone, Thank lord I pray
Hospital guard in early morn, Babes not waitin to be born
Another child comes, Greets the day
Times have come, Some things are right
Freedoms here, It feels so light
When I ask, Are you coming home
He says
Just, one more day to go, Yesterday they said we would know soon.
Just, one more day to go, Yesterday they said we would know soon.
Took step out of that place, Bullet caught him in the face
Spun him round, Into the ground
And as he laid and died, A new mother looked on and cried
And the child there , Couldn’t have known
Times have come, And things aren’t right
Freedoms here, But he’s still in the night
So, When I ask, When you bringing him home
I can still hear him say
Just, one more day to go, Yesterday they said we would know soon
Just, one more day to go, Yesterday they said we would know soon
Reprise:
He was born an American, In the land of the free.
He died because he was American, Killed by an Iraqi.
He was only seventeen, He lied to go to War.
He was proud to be American, Lived so they’d be free
And we know, that he’s not coming home.
And she knows, he wouldn’t be back again
And he knew, he wasn’t coming home.
And we know
He was born an American, In the land that was free.