My Youngest Son Came Home Today lyrics

1

My youngest son came home today,

his friends marched with him all the way,

the flutes and drums beat out the time

as in his box of polished pine

- like dead meat on a butcher's tray -

my youngest son came home today.

My youngest son was a fine young man,

with a wife, a daughter and a son.

A man, he would have lived and died

till by a bullet sanctified;

now he's a saint - or so they say.

They brought their saint home today.

Above the narrow Belfast streets,

an Irish sky looks down and weeps

on children's blood in gutters spilled

for dreams of freedom unfulfilled.

As part of freedom's price to pay,

my youngest son came home today.

My youngest son came home today,

his friends marched with him all the way,

the flutes and drums beat out the time

as in his box of polished pine

- like dead meat on a butcher's tray -

my youngest son came home today.

And this time he's home to stay.

1. The song is about The Troubles, the conflict in Northern Ireland between loyalists (loyal to the UK) and republicans.

The song doesn't specify which side the dead man was on, which is highly significant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles

• Artist:Eric Bogle