For those who served, whether by choice or chance and have cried "Back To The World"
I was lucky you know
I wasn't there
And I didn't have to go and face my fear
But still this hidden pain
Comes up from the belly of the beast
And even ten years past
We're haunted now from both sides of the truth
And the ghosts of Ðiên Biên Phú
This war keeps hangin' on
As if it were today
'Cause many a good man died
On the road from Têt to Huê
They won every battle they fought
But the one that raged at home
And now the only words that count
Are the names carved out in stone
As tears fall onto stone
Black wall
Black wall
My God
Black wall
Black wall
Sound the bugle boy
For a twenty-one gun salute
Call for the ticker tape
And assemble all the troops
Not a word about Dominoes
Or the horrors of Napalm
Let Johnny come marching home
And greet him with a prayer and a Psalm
For the boys of Vietnam
The boys of Vietnam
Let him, let him
Let Johnny come back to the world
Back to the world
Back to the world
Black Wall is about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, located in Washington, D.C.
The song describes many items and locations concerning the Vietnam War.
Dennis was involved with the Chicago Vietnam Veterans Parade Committee in 1986, which raised
funds to bring a replica of the Memorial Wall to Chicago. The event in Chicago was the largest
in the country. The phrase "Back to the world" is how United States soldiers
would refer to the end of their service time in Vietnam.
Please visit the Black Wall Vietnam War
page here at DDY Talk, where you can learn brief details about the various references used throughout the song,
and links for more in depth information.
