Brad Borch - Merchants of Mayhem Lyrics

In the spring of '67
Eddie turned twenty-one
We shipped him to a foreign land
Where he strapped his helmet on

He was a gunner on a Huey
Sprayed a deadly rain of lead
As they hovered over treetops
He would watch as natives fled
Watch as natives fled

When they were dropping napalm
He imagined hearing screams
He would try to just ignore them
But they echoed in his dreams

So he went to see the chaplain
Chaplain looked him in the eye
Chaplain fed the party line
Though he knew it was a lie
He knew it was a lie

It was a lie, it was a lie
It was a lie they told each other to get by
And he toed the party line
And he said that he was fine
But inside he knew it was a lie

In the fall of 2013
He returned to Vietnam
There he met a rival soldier
In the place where it began

Last time they saw each other
Was at the wrong end of their guns
This time they met as brothers
And they held each other's sons
They held each other's sons

And they swore their children's children
Never would see war again
Then they wept and held each other
And they parted dearest friends

But the merchants of mayhem
Take a buck for a bullet in the chest
They make a killing selling hatred
And you know they'll never rest
You know they'll never rest

They'll never rest, they'll never rest
They'll never rest, they are twisted and obsessed
The merchants of mayhem
Keep an eye out for them
The won't rest 'til they have our very best

In 1999
I was blessed with a fine young son
And in the spring of 2020
My son will be twenty-one...