From the recording This One's on the House (2009)
The best song about war I ever heard, by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan.
Lyrics
I got your letter today, and I miss you all so much here
And I can't wait to see you all, and I'm counting the days, dear
I still believe that there's gold at the end of the world
And I'll come home to Illinois on the day after tomorrow
It is so hard, and it's cold here, and I'm tired of taking orders
And I miss old Rockford town up by the Wisconsin border
What I miss you won't believe, shoveling snow and raking leaves
And my plane, it will touch down, on the day after tomorrow
I close my eyes every night and I dream that I can hold you
They fill us full of lies, everyone buys, about what it means to be a soldier
I still don't know how I'm supposed to feel about all the blood that's been spilled
Will God on his throne get me back home on the day after tomorrow?
You can't deny, the other side, they don't wanna die any more than we do
What I'm trying to say is don't they pray to the same God that we do?
And tell me how does God choose? Whose prayers does He refuse?
Who spins the wheel, who rolls the dice, on the day after tomorrow?
I am not fighting for justice, I am not fighting for freedom
I am fighting for my life and another day in the world here
I just do what I've been told, we're just the gravel on the road
And only the lucky ones come home on the day after tomorrow
And the summer, it too will fade, and with it comes the winter's frost, dear
And I know we too are made of all the things that we have lost here
I'll be twenty-one today, I've been saving all my pay
And my plane, it will touch down, on the day after tomorrow