Classic love story true to his western tx roots. One of my favorites as a story, but I think there are alot of songs that are amazing not even listed on this site. I guess I should figure out how to add them, because I have about 8 REK cd's.
We took the highway till the road went black
We marked Truth Or Consequences on our map*
A voice drifted up from the radio
We saw the voice from long ago
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The kids asleep in the backseat
We're just countin' the miles you and me
We don't measure the blood we've drawn anymore
We just stack the bodies outside the door
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The wise men were all fools
What to do
The sun sets in flames as the city burns
Another day gone down as the night turns
And I hold you here in my heart
As things fall apart
A downtown window flushed with light
Faces of the dead at five (faces of the dead at five)
A martyr's silent eyes
Petition the drivers as we pass by
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who'll be the last to die
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Darlin' your tyrants and kings form the same fate
Strung up at your city gates
And you're the last to die for a mistake
We marked Truth Or Consequences on our map*
A voice drifted up from the radio
We saw the voice from long ago
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The kids asleep in the backseat
We're just countin' the miles you and me
We don't measure the blood we've drawn anymore
We just stack the bodies outside the door
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The wise men were all fools
What to do
The sun sets in flames as the city burns
Another day gone down as the night turns
And I hold you here in my heart
As things fall apart
A downtown window flushed with light
Faces of the dead at five (faces of the dead at five)
A martyr's silent eyes
Petition the drivers as we pass by
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who'll be the last to die
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Darlin' your tyrants and kings form the same fate
Strung up at your city gates
And you're the last to die for a mistake
Lyrics submitted by delial
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its amazing how far music can come.. 24 years after it released and its one of the most heartfelt songs ive heard
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Warren wanted a Beach Boys thing for this one, and Carl Wilson and Billy Hinsche came in, with Carl arranging the vocal parts. The other harmony vocalists (credited as the "Gentlemen Boys") were Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Zevon's longtime backers Waddy Wachtel and Jorge Calderon, and Linda Rondstadt/Stone Poneys guitarist Kenny Edwards.
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He reuses the verse melody from the previous album's "Dirty Little Religion", the topics of the verses are all over the place, and he packs too many words into one line (goes to show...) and too few in another (it's pretty hard to find), and rhymes "Henley Regatta" with "Persona non grata", but gets away with it all as only he could.
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The way this song speaks to me🥺🥺when I sing it I feel like I relate
'last to die' is a john kerry reference. Kerry used that to describe the Vietnam and the Iraq War. It describes the tragedy of being the very last person to die for stupid, unecessary wars
The end of the first verse:<br /> A voice drifted up from the radio<br /> We saw the voice from long ago<br /> i think is reaffirming that. I think he hears Kerry over the radio (during the election maybe?), and remembers his speech about Vietnam
The problem with your reasoning matkojebca, is that this war was a farce from the beginning. If there was reliable intelligence about Saddam having WMD's which later proved to be mistaken, you would be absolutely right. The problem is that there wasn't any reliable intelligence from the beginning. This war was started under false pretenses, and the 'goal' of 'reforming' Iraq proved to be a major mistake. I think that's the point of this song.
While the lyrics seem to be about our approach to war in general and not specific to any one conflict, the term "Last to Die" references the Vietnam war. The term recalls the statements made by John Kerry in his April 1971 testimony before subcommittees on the war.
Kerry referencing how the war never seems to come to an end.....
"Each day to facilitate the process by which the United States washes her hands of Vietnam someone has to give up his life so that the United States doesn't have to admit something that the entire world already knows, so that we can't say that we have made a mistake. Someone has to dies so that President Nixon won't be, and these are his words, "the first President to lose a war. We are asking Americans to think about that because how do you ask a man to be the last man to dies in Vietnam? How do ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake? But we are trying to do that, and we are doing it with thousands of rationalizations."
I think its about the war in Iraq
Agreed. A good song, keeping in his tradition.
Just sounds too much of a dead ringer. But he did say this was again a political album.
I agree. It sounds like a song about war. Great
There are several mistakes in the lyrics above, most notably the last few lines, which should read: "Darlin' will tyrants and kings fall to the same fate, Strung up at your city gates...". It is a question.
The line "The wise men were all fools... what to do." It simultaneously tells the story and the hopelessness of it. Very political, but that's one of the best part about Bruce. He is simultaneously a poet and an activist. Who would want it any other way, as he says in Jungleland, "And man the poets down here don't write nothing at all... they just stand back and let it all be."
By that logic should we attack every country in the world as they may perhaps bomb us, matkojebca?
I thought it was about Katrina hurricane and its dramatic consequences...