Language   

Walking on a Thin Line

Huey Lewis and The News
Language: English


Huey Lewis and The News

Related Songs

Small World
(Huey Lewis and The News)


[1983]
Album: "Sports"
Testo e musica di A. Pessis/K. Wells
Lyrics and music by A. Pessis/K. Wells

Sports

The war had been over for 9 years when this song came out. It's about the lasting mental effects (post traumatic stress) that result from combat. At this time Americans were beginning to look at Vietnam Veterans a different way. They began to understand that just because the war was unpopular does not mean that you shun the veterans.

I feel that one thing that made post traumatic stress worse in many cases was the tendency of many Americans to neglect, ignore and sometimes even abuse those who fought. Thankfully, that attitude has really changed in the past 30 years. But it came too late for some Vietnam Veterans.
(From members.tripod.com)
Sometimes in my bed at night,
I curse the dark and I pray for light.
And sometimes, the light’s no consolation.
Blinded by a memory.
Afraid of what it might do to me.
And the tears and the sweat only mock my desperation.

Don’t you know me I’m the boy next door.
The one you find so easy to ignore.
Is that what I was fighting for?

Walking on a thin line.
Straight off the front line.
Labeled as freaks loose on the streets of the city.
Walking on a thin line.
Angry all the time,
Take a look at my face, see what it’s doing to me.

Taught me how to shoot to kill.
A specialist with a deadly skill.
A skill I needed to have to be a survivor.
It’s over now or so they say.
Well, sometimes, it don’t turn out that way.
Cause you're never the same when you’ve been under fire.

Contributed by daniela -k.d.- - 2008/5/22 - 01:46




Main Page

Please report any error in lyrics or commentaries to antiwarsongs@gmail.com

Note for non-Italian users: Sorry, though the interface of this website is translated into English, most commentaries and biographies are in Italian and/or in other languages like French, German, Spanish, Russian etc.




hosted by inventati.org