MEN

Watching the coverage and all the programmes about D-Day made me think about this song; particularly the second verse and the first two lines of the third verse.

I thought about my Dad and Anniemay’s Dad.  As I listened to the CD, I thought about all the men in our lives, Dads, Granddads, uncles, brothers, cousins  …….

It's beautifully sung and by the end I was tears.  Tears of anger as well as tears of loss.

When a ship is sinking and they lower the lifeboats
And hand out the life jackets, the men keep on their coats
The women and the children are the ones who must go first
And the men who try to save their skins are cowards and are cursed
Every man's a captain, men know how to drown
Man the lifeboats if there's room, otherwise go down

And it's the same when there's a war on: it's the men who go to fight
Women and children are civilians, when they're killed it's not right
Men kill men in uniform, its the way war goes
When they run they're cowards, when they stay they are heroes
Every man's a general, men go off to war
The battlefields a man's world, cannon fodders what they're for

It's the men who have the power, it's the men who have the might
And the world's a place of horror because each man thinks he's right
A man's home is his castle so the family let him in
But what's important in that kingdom is the women and the children
A husband and a father, every man's a king
But he's really just a drone, gathers no honey, has no sting
Have pity on the general, the king, and the captain
They know they're expendable, after all they're men

Written by Loudon Wainwright III

You can hear it here.