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Once I Was Lyrics

Once I was a soldier
And I fought on foreign sands for you
Once I was a hunter
And I brought home fresh meat for you
Once I was a lover
And I searched behind your eyes for you
And soon there'll be another
To tell you I was just a lie

And sometimes I wonder
Just for a while
Will you remember me

And though you have forgotten
All of our rubbish dreams
I find myself searching
Through the ashes of our ruins
For the days when we smiled
And the hours that ran wild
With the magic of our eyes
And the silence of our words

And sometimes I wonder
Just for a while
Will you remember me
9 Meanings

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Cover art for Once I Was lyrics by Tim Buckley

The greatest love song ever? I know my main favourite love songs are of the lost love variety and this is the best, alongside Martha, by Tom Waits

Cover art for Once I Was lyrics by Tim Buckley

choice song...has anyone heard Jeff's version??? it's even better

Cover art for Once I Was lyrics by Tim Buckley

Everyone who´s had love and lost it can relate to this song. So beautiful it bleeds.

Cover art for Once I Was lyrics by Tim Buckley

This gets my vote for the best love song ever.

Cover art for Once I Was lyrics by Tim Buckley

I managed to track down Jeff performing this one at the public wake/performance held for Tim Buckley- holy crap, was it amazing. It's just crazy to think that he had never really sang before he performed at the wake, and the audience was in complete shocked silence. One of my favorite moments.

Cover art for Once I Was lyrics by Tim Buckley

Absolutly perfect. One of my favourite songs ever. The lyrics, especially the second verse, are so beautiful!

Cover art for Once I Was lyrics by Tim Buckley

Clearly this song seems to be about a loved one that moved on from him. He is recalling all the smiles and dreams they had together though she seems to "have forgotten". Perhaps one of the greatest love (lost love) songs of his time. Easy to relate to if you've had the pleasure of being dumped and forgotten.

Cover art for Once I Was lyrics by Tim Buckley

Although one can interpret Buckley’s masterpiece as a love song, it truly is an antiwar anthem. Published in 1967 (the year I graduated from high school) at the height of the Vietnam War, the lyrics are a soldier’s lament—“Once I was a soldier.... will you ever remember me?”

Song Meaning

@richarde4j it was actually used as a soundtrack in Coming Home... this song give me the shivers...

Cover art for Once I Was lyrics by Tim Buckley

not only a love song, but an anti-war song, talks about a soldier, it was actually used as a soundtrack in Coming Home... this song give me the shivers...

 
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