War Ravaged Mind

From time to time I try to give voice to someone else in my songs and tell someone else’s story as if it were mine. This is one of those. It is in the voice of a Viet Nam Vet who after getting home doesn’t feel at home and so ends up moving to Alaska.

McCoy and I sang the song for the first time in concert in 1984. This is a recording of that performance. At the time the country had only begun to find a “voice” for those who had served in Viet Nam. Movies like Oliver Stone’s “Platoon” in 1986 helped to begin a healing though the scars remain.

This song was written with the best intentions. Thirty years later it feels a bit pretentious though a worthy effort.

War Ravaged Mind

Turned eighteen sixty-four
After growing up hearing bout my daddy's war
Joined the army to become a man
That's the first I ever heard about Viet Nam
Got a purple heart and a silver star
A promise for the doctor he would leave no scar
A feeling from my country that I'd done no good
While they branded me a killer in the neighborhood

The war may be over still there’re battles to fight
One may be raging again tonight
I've tried running but I just can't hide
From the scenes I keep seeing and the feelings inside
This war-ravaged mind…inside...this war ravaged mind

I got married in sixty-six
Don't know why Judy waited but it wasn't for this
I never could have made it if she had known
The man she loved wasn't ever coming home
Moved to Alaska in sixty-eight
Try to put our lives together and outrun the hate
Found there were a lot of us crazies here
Half minded men living in the last frontier

The war may be over still there’re battles to fight
One will be raging again tonight
I've tried running but I just can't hide
From the scenes I keep seeing and the feelings inside
This war ravaged mind…inside...this war ravaged mind

My kid's eighteen in one more year
Tells his momma he is thinking of a navy career
Don't matter where he looks but whatever he finds
I pray among the pieces there is peace of mind
Think of what I was doing when I was his age
Couldn't done it any different that's a part of my rage
Don't know if your American dream's come true
But I have one every night I'd surely trade with you

The war may be over still there’re battles to fight
One may be raging again tonight
I've tried running but I just can't hide
From the scenes I keep seeing and the feelings inside
This war-ravaged mind…inside...this war ravaged mind
©Copyright 1984 Love Gives More Music