written by David Olney
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© David Olney Songs
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administered by Bug Music (BMI)
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The strange young man who comes to me
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A soldier on a three day spree
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Who needs one night's cheap ecstasy
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And a woman's arms to hide him
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He greets me with a courtly bow
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And hides his pain by acting proud
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He drinks too much and he laughs too loud
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How can I deny him?
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Let us dance beneath the moon
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I'll sing to you "Claire de Lune'
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The morning always comes too soon
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But tonight the war is over
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He speaks to me in schoolboy French
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Of a soldier's life inside a trench
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Of the look of death and the ghastly stench
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I do my best to please him
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He puts two roses in a vase
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Two roses sadly out of place
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Like the gallant smile on his haggard face
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Playfully I tease him
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Hold me 'neath the Paris skies
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Let's not talk of how or why
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Tomorrow's soon enough to die
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But tonight the war is over
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We make love too hard too fast
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He falls asleep, his face a mask
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He wakes with the shakes and he drinks from his flask
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I put my arms around him
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They die in the trenches and they die in the air
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In Belgium and France the dead are everywhere
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They die so fast there's no time to prepare
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A decent grave to surround them
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Old world glory, old world fame
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The old world's gone, gone up in flames
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Nothing will ever be the same
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And nothing lasts forever
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Oh I'd pray for him but I've forgotten how
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And there's nothing, nothing that can save him now
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There's always another with the same funny bow
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And who am I to deny them
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1917
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| Linda Ronstadt |
