An Anthem for the Coming Years: Battle Born

PJ Lifestyle is quiet today. We have a grim, nauseous writers block, at least for light pieces. Today we reassess, adjust. I took a walk to clear my head. I’ve been writing about The Killers, so had most of their album in my ‘recently played’ playlist. I had planned a short post at my place about the patriotic anthem, “Battle Born,” but after yesterday I find the song holds more fire than I thought. Whether you like the sound of indie rock or not, read the lyrics:

You lost faith in the human spirit
You walk around like a ghost
Your star-spangled heart
Took a train for the coast

When you shine you’re a hilltop mansion
So how’d you lose the light?
Was it blown by the wind
In the still of the night?

I always saw you as a kind of keeper
A mother to a child
But your boys have grown soft
And your girls have gone wild

From the Blue Ridge to the Black Hills
To the Redwood sky
The season may pass
But the dream doesn’t die

Now don’t you drop the ball

Up against the wall
There’s something dying on the street
When they knock you down
You’re gonna get back on your feet
Cause you can’t stop now

When they break your heart
When they cause your soul to mourn
Remember what I said
Boy, you was battle born

When the night falls on the land
Are you haunted by the sound?
It’s gonna take more than a hand
To turn this thing around

Won’t you lean it on me?
Rescue, set me free

Up against the wall
There’s something dying on the street
When they knock you down
You’re gonna get back on your feet
Cause you can’t stop now

Did they break your heart?
And did they cause your soul to mourn?
Remember what I said
Boy, you was battle born
Cause you can’t stop now

Come on show your face
Come on give us one more spark
Sing a song of fire
Lest we fall into the dark
Cause you can’t stop now

You never know
If you never learn
You never shine
If you never burn
The rising tide
The undertow
The venom and
The overflow
The turn away
The welcome home