Vandaag kwam hij (min of meer toevallig) langs in een playlist: Rod McKuen met Soldiers who want to be heroes uit 1971. Hoe actueel wil je het hebben?

Refrein:
Soldiers who wanna be heroes
Number practically zero
But there are millions
Who wanna be civillians (2x).

Come and take my oldest son
Show him how to shoot a gun
Wipe his eyes if he starts to cry
When the bullets fly.

Give him a rifle, take his hoe
Show him a field where he can go
To lay his body down and die
Without asking why.

Refrein (2x).

Sticks and stones can break your bones
Even names can hurt you
But the thing that hurts the most
Is when a man deserts you.

Don’t you think it’s time to weed
The leaders that no longer lead
From the people of the land
Who’d like to see there sons again.

Refrein (2x).

God if men could only see
The lesson taught by history
That all the singers of this song
Cannot write a single wrong.

Let all men of good will
Stay in the fields they have to till
Fill the mouths they have to fill
And cast away their arms.

Refrein (5x).

Bron: https://muzikum.eu/nl/rod-mckuen/soldiers-who-want-to-be-heroes-songtekst