It's rare for me to find it necessary to put up entire lyrics, but this song really speaks to me, so bear with me on this one, please.
The song is "The War Was In Color," by Carbon Leaf. Here's an excellent vid of the song -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf29IIQuqYk
I see you've found a box of my things -
Infantries, tanks and smoldering airplane wings.
These old pictures are cool. Tell me some stories.
Was it like the old war movies?
Sit down son. Let me fill you in...
Where to begin? Let's start with the end
This black and white photo don't capture the skin
From the flash of a gun to a soldier who's done
Trust me grandson
The war was in color
From shipyard to sea, From factory to sky
From rivet to rifle, from boot camp to battle cry
I wore the mask up high on a daylight run
That held my face in its clammy hand
Crawled over coconut logs and
corpses in the coral sand...
Where to begin? Let's start with the end
This black and white photo don't capture the skin
From the shock of a shell to the memory of smell
If red is for Hell
The war was in color
I held the canvas bag over the railing
The dead released, with the ship still sailing,
Out of our hands and into the swallowing sea
I felt the crossfire stitching up soldiers
Into a blanket of dead, and as the night grows colder
In a window back home, a Blue
Star is traded for Gold...
Where to begin? Let's start with the end
This black and white photo don't capture the skin
When metal is churned. And bodies are burned
Victory earned
The War was in color
Now I lay in my grave at age 21
Long before you were born
Before I bore a son
What good did it do?
Well hopefully for you
A world without war
A life full of color...
Where to begin? Let's start with the end
This black and white photo never captured my skin
Once it was torn from an enemy thorn
Straight through the core
The war was in color
Where to begin? Let's start with the end
This black and white photo don't capture the skin
From the flash of a gun to a soldier who's done
Trust me grandson
The war was in color
Trust me grandson____
The war was in color