Companion song to The Fugitive. UKSC semi-finalist 2010
Medium-sized singer songwriter. Likes beer, motorbikes and jelly babies.
Story behind the song
Of all the vile things we ask young soldiers to do, I've often thought this is one of the worst. It's either soul-sapping boredom, or something terrible is happening.
Lyrics
This place was never meant for man at all.
It’s hell inside and hell outside that wall
I have learned not to remember
How to smile and how to care
For tonight I am the sentry
In the dark. In the cold. Standing there
I’ve had less than twenty summers on this earth
And seen more of death than life or love or birth
And I really can’t remember
Running barefoot in the sun
But tonight I am the sentry
In the dark. In the cold. With a gun.
When the cold gets through your body to the bones
And a young man is an old man all alone…
I am still afraid of dying
But this life has cost me dear
And tonight I am the sentry
In the dark. In the cold. In my fear.
If I ever get back home. Love a girl. Have a son.
I would never have to fight. Or build a wall. Or stand alone with a gun.
Those boys that we have captured and confined
Some of them have found a strength from deep inside.
It’s as though they have remembered
How a man can keep his pride
And tonight I am the sentry
In the dark. In the cold. Right outside.
Many hours I have guarded by the wire
Barely thinking only knowing I am tired.
Then a tiny sound behind me
And my veins are filled with fire
For tonight I am the sentry
In the dark. In the cold. I’m required.
He is working at the wire to make a space
I can see the fear that’s written on his face
As I raise my gun to kill him
And he looks me in the eye
Yes tonight I am the sentry
In the dark. In the cold. You must die.
If I ever get back home. Love a girl. Living free.
I would never have to kill someone else, just as young. Just like me.
In the moment I can see the man I am
In his face I see my dreams and hopes and plans
In the moment I remember
And my tears begin to flow
I don’t want to be the sentry
In the dark. In the cold. We must go.
In the dark. In the cold. C’mon lets go.
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