Dolce Syndicate

Lyrics

The license in his wallet says he's legal for a day
The ink is barely dry and signed away
He's packing up the posters of the cars he used to-drive
Wondering if twenty's just a place where some arrive
His mother's in the kitchen keeping quiet with the floor
While the steel-toed boots are waiting by the door

And it's one, two, three, step into the line
Trading all your tomorrows for a snapshot in time
You're a baby with a rifle, you're a man in the mud
Writing down your name in the register of blood
Oh, the general shakes his hand and the bugle starts to blow
When you're eighteen years old and you've nowhere else to go

He left a pack of matches and a half-full glass of tea
A note beside the TV for the things he'll never see
They measure out his stature and they shave his curly head
Put a tag around his neck to know him if he's dead
He tries to hold a swagger, tries to keep his chin up high
But he's looking for a reason that a boy is meant to die

And it's one, two, three, step into the line
Trading all your tomorrows for a snapshot in time
You're a baby with a rifle, you're a man in the mud
Writing down your name in the register of blood
Oh, the general shakes his hand and the bugle starts to blow
When you're eighteen years old and you've nowhere else to go

In the dark before the thunder, on the border of the state
He's memorizing faces that it's killing him to wait
Did he leave his heart in high school? Did he leave it on the street
Just a shadow in a helmet on his aching, blistered feet
Hear the whistle of the shrapnel, feel the shaking of the ground
Not a soul back home remembers how an 18 sounds

And it's one, two, three, step into the line
Trading all your tomorrows for a snapshot in time
You're a baby with a rifle, you're a man in the mud
Writing down your name in the register of blood
Oh, the general shakes his hand and the bugle starts to blow
When you're eighteen years old and you've nowhere else to go

Eighteen
Fold the flag
Eighteen
Put the picture in the bag
Just a kid from the porch, just a flash in the dark
Leaving the world with an empty mark