the fans were whirlin'

like the blades of a 'copter

liftin' into the skies above some foreign land

soaked with the bodies of so many friends.



Johnny waved

he was on his way home

he waved goodbye to his comrades in arms,

and all the twisted things he'd seen.

he waved goodbye

and the blades hit

something

maybe just Fate, but the blades hit

the 'copter went up in flames

and Johnny never went marchin' home

Johnny never went marchin' home



they took his name

and they carved it on a slab of marble

with several thousand other names

all the fallen idols

the apples of their mother's eye

just another name



meanwhile

back on that burning shore

Johnny's comrades stood speechless

they looked with uh-uh-uh-uh disbelieving eyes

as those bits of metal and the embers

the embers of his eyes

fanned out into the air

black dust

flames



oh Johnny! some day they'll make a movie about you

and in the making of that movie

some mad apocalypse

it will become even stranger than the simple act

just a boy going up up up

just a boy going up

in flames in the smoke

just another life

just another breath

and who'll remember

oh eternity now

as eternal as a sheet of marble

eternal as a slab on a green hill

and your name

and all your fallen brothers

and all the ones not cut

all the ones remembered only in the hearts

a mother a father a brother a sister a lover a son a daughter

shall not shall not fade shall not fade



your ancestors salute you

and the gods of your ancestors salute you

having having been formed by the minds of your ancestors

the gods of your ancestors salute you-a