Ambling madly all over the town
The call to arms, you're likened to a whisper
I liken to a radio
You were a brick bag a bowery tough, so rough
They called you from a cartoon
Pulled out of your pantaloons
But You
My brother in arms
I'd rather I'd lose my limbs
Than let you come to harm
But You
My bombazine doll
The bullets may singe your skin
And the mortars may fall
But I
I never felt so much life
Than tonight
Huddled in the trenches
Gazing on the battle field
Our rifles blaze away
We blaze away
Corporal Bradley of regiment five
And proud array standing by the bathing
Soldiers and the stevedores
We laid on the mattress and tumbled to sleep
Our eyes align, swaddled in our civies
Cradled in our dungarees
But You
My brother in arms
I'd rather I'd lose my limbs
Than let you come to harm
But You
My bombazine doll
The bullets may singe your skin
And the mortars may fall
But I
I never felt so much life
Than tonight
Huddled in the trenches
Gazing on the battle field
Our rifles blaze away
We blaze away
We blaze away
We blaze away
The call to arms, you're likened to a whisper
I liken to a radio
You were a brick bag a bowery tough, so rough
They called you from a cartoon
Pulled out of your pantaloons
But You
My brother in arms
I'd rather I'd lose my limbs
Than let you come to harm
But You
My bombazine doll
The bullets may singe your skin
And the mortars may fall
But I
I never felt so much life
Than tonight
Huddled in the trenches
Gazing on the battle field
Our rifles blaze away
We blaze away
Corporal Bradley of regiment five
And proud array standing by the bathing
Soldiers and the stevedores
We laid on the mattress and tumbled to sleep
Our eyes align, swaddled in our civies
Cradled in our dungarees
But You
My brother in arms
I'd rather I'd lose my limbs
Than let you come to harm
But You
My bombazine doll
The bullets may singe your skin
And the mortars may fall
But I
I never felt so much life
Than tonight
Huddled in the trenches
Gazing on the battle field
Our rifles blaze away
We blaze away
We blaze away
We blaze away
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I often use a dictionary when listening the Decemberists.
"Our rifles blaze away
We blaze away"
Yep, sounds like they were "flaming" alright.
*This is not to disparage homosexuality in any way. It's just to point out that this is a very, very gay song. It's also beautiful and wistful, sort of a doomed romantic tale.
....?