Does such a song even exisit?

October 6, 2008 11:31 AM

A song that surely must exist. All we (dad and I) can recall is the line "but we were soldiers". This is not, and has nothing to do with the book/movie 'We were Soldiers". I am unsure of the title, but I believe the chorus begins with "but we were soldiers", as in the idea "but whatever, we, being soldiers, did what we had to do". Maybe a country tune, but I'm just not sure. Could be from a musical or whatever. Any ideas?
posted by dawson to media & arts (11 comments total)

Isn't there a line like that in Billy Joel's Goodnight Saigon?
posted by JaredSeth at 11:40 AM on October 6, 2008

Possibly the song "Soldiers" (lyrics here) by the Bee Gees?
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 11:44 AM on October 6, 2008

Gosh, I think that maybe it is the Joel tune! That's the song I was trying to recall. I'll check with dad this evening. That Bee Gees song is an awesome one I'd forgotten. I''ll remind him of that one as well, as it could be what he's looking for.
posted by dawson at 11:50 AM on October 6, 2008

are you perhaps talking about the song currently used by nike in their "courage" ads (the ones celebrating 20 years of "just do it")?

that would be "The Killers" with "All These Things That I've Done" and the lyrics feature the phrase I got soul, but I'm not a soldier.

best answer, please.
posted by krautland at 12:16 PM on October 6, 2008

I don't think the line "but we were soldiers" was in "Goodnight Saigon". The repeated line is "and we would all go down together".

The one time I saw Billy Joel in concert he had all of the roadies who were Vietnam vets come onstage and gather around an extra mike and they all sang along on "And we would all go down together". Nice move.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:02 PM on October 6, 2008

Now that I've had a few minutes to listen to it again, Empress is right that the line doesn't appear in the Billy Joel song. I must have been mixing it up with something else, which of course escapes me at the moment.
posted by JaredSeth at 2:11 PM on October 6, 2008

Doesn't quite fit, but Erin McKeown's Civilians has this chorus:

You hate the words of war, but baby face it!
That's what it's been for us
We were never good fighters or very good soldiers
But through this we are more

(emphasis mine)
posted by Tomorrowful at 2:17 PM on October 6, 2008

well thanks for the responses, regrettably none of these are the one, though there are good tries!
posted by dawson at 7:03 PM on October 6, 2008

After reading this, I have a tune something like "we were soldiers everyone, and our lives had just begun" running through my head; maybe something like an old Marty Robbins tune but I can't find it either.
posted by tamitang at 8:39 PM on October 6, 2008

Coming Home Soldier? (Link has lyrics and recording of the song.)
posted by MasonDixon at 9:39 PM on October 6, 2008

On the off chance that you're misremembering the exact lyrics: The first song that popped to mind for me is 1916 by Motorhead. The very bottom of this page has the lyrics.
posted by kajj at 11:14 PM on October 6, 2008