I always sit in this booth with my back to the bar,
nursing a glass of water on the rocks.
I haven't had a scotch for three years now.
I never look at bottles or at clocks.
I used to shave in the shower; now, I don't shave at all.
When I wash my hands, I watch the water swirl around.
When I walk down the street, I don't watch folks go by.
I look down at the kids in strollers; I look down at the ground.
I only tell the ice cubes in my water
about the things I did back in the day.
But sometimes someone just like you sits down right there
and looks like he'll listen to what I have to say.
A soldier shouldn't know their names and faces.
A soldier shouldn't ask who's behind the door.
Every bullet that I fired could have been a dead man.
I don't have more men than that to answer for.
Once I drank to them with every shot I took.
Now this glass of water's all I need.
Remember the name of the town the Major founded,
where I did my famous unsung deed.
Once I shot a man in Abbottabad.
Everyone heard, but no one made me pay.
He's the only man I ever killed
that I don't regret at all today.
For everyone who can't look in the mirror,
there's someone's never had a second thought.
For all those getting old with a shot of scotch or water,
there's someone else who paid for what he bought.
credits
from Somebody's Hometown,
released June 9, 2015
Words and music by Andrew Shields
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