The Wall

Bruce Springsteen: The Wall

Unreleased, Live November 16 2005 version

Cigarettes and a bottle of beer, this poem that I wrote for you

This black stone and these hard tears they're all I've got left now of you

I remember you in your Marine uniform laughing, laughing at your ship out party

I've read Robert McNamara, he says he's sorry

Yeah, you and your boots and black t-shirt, oh, Billy you looked so bad

Yeah you and your rock and roll band was the best thing this shit town ever had

Now the men that put you here eat with their families in rich dining halls

And apology and forgiveness got no place here at all, here at the wall

I'm sorry that I missed you last year, I couldn't find no one to drive me

If your eyes could cut through that black stone, tell me would they recognize me

For the living time it must be served, life goes on

Cigarettes and a bottle of beer and skin on black stone

High school pictures and paper flowers, there's ribbons as red as the blood

Yeah as the blood you spilled in the Central Highlands mud

Now the limousines rush down Pennsylvania Avenue as the rain falls

Apology and forgiveness got no place here at all