Last to Die

'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 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."

• John Kerry

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...