Okay, I was scanning through the stations today and I hit a country song about a highschool girl who falls for a soldier who’s shipping out to Viet Nam, and how they write back and forth. The ending of the song is problematic for me. The final verse -implies- that the soldier is dead. The chorus -implies- that the soldier is comming home. I realize this could be the sort of ‘spiritual’ comming home indicitive of death, but the way it’s worded, I don’t believe so. Can anyone give me a heads up on this? Does the soldier live or die?
The line referring to the football game, and the announcement about Vietnam dead, and the lone girl crying under the stands, seems to indicate death. “Soldier’s coming home” = in a body bag? I hate this song, as I hate all songs written with the sole purpose of wringing tears out of the listener. That means I hate 35% of country music, of course, just based on that one rule. I hate another 60% on other grounds.
hrh
Just to clarify for those who may not know: the song is Travelling Soldier, the artist Dixie Chicks.
The original songwriter and performer is Bruce Robison. It’s not a Nashville song, but you’re free to hate it if you wish. I like it, myself, but I can’t stand to listen to it because it makes me cry - even Bruce’s version.
He dies. She’s heartbroken. She cries that she’s never going to love anybody else, and she’ll never stop loving him. The fact that he chose not to change the lyrics in the final chorus, but keep it saying “waiting for my soldier to come back again, never more to be alone when the letter says my soldier’s coming home” makes me think of her being in denial and not wanting to admit that she’s never going to get that letter, and that her heart will always be waiting for him (which is why she’s never going to love another guy). But yeah, he’s dead.