Sixteen years old
when I went to the war
To fight for a land
fit for heroes
God on my side
and a gun in my hand
Chasing my days
down to zero
And I marched and I fought
and I bled and I died
And I never did get
any older
But I knew at the time
that a year in the line
Was a long enough life
for a soldier
We all volunteered
and we wrote down our names
And we added two years
to our ages
Eager for life
and ahead of the game
Ready for history's pages
And we brawled and wе fought
and we whored 'til we stood
Tеn thousand
shoulder to shoulder
A thirst for the Hun
we were food for the gun
And that's what you are
when you're soldiers
I heard my friend cry
and he sank to his knees
Coughing blood as he screamed
for his mother
And I fell by his side
and that's how we died
Clinging like kids
to each other
And I lay in the mud
and the guts and the blood
And I wept as his body
grew colder
And I called for my mother
and she never came
Though it wasn't my fault
and I wasn't to blame
And the day's not half over
and ten thousand slain
And now there's nobody
remembers our names
And that's how it is
for a soldier