Lyrics

[INSTRUMENTAL INTRO — GRAND PIANO, SOFT STRINGS]

[VERSE 1 — INTIMATE]
I was young when I went away,
Too young to understand
How some things you see in war
Never really leave a man.

I came home and packed the uniform,
Tried to put those years away.
But memories don't follow orders,
And some never fade.

[VERSE 2]
PTSD doesn’t always warn you
When it’s coming through the door.
A sound, a word, a memory
Can put you back there once more.

There are nights filled up with nightmares,
Mornings I don’t understand,
When the older man I am today
Meets that young returning man.

I know tomorrow may be better.
I’ve lived long enough to know.
But when depression wraps around me,
Sometimes all I want is sleep tonight.

[CHORUS — BUILD]
The war followed me home.
It followed me through the years.
Through quiet rooms and sleepless nights,
Through memories and tears.

I built a life, I learned to smile,
I learned to carry on.
But somewhere deep inside of me,
The war followed me home.

[INSTRUMENTAL TURN]

[VERSE 3]
There are VA doctors who will listen,
VA nurses who understand.
They’ve helped me through the darkest nights
And helped me find my feet again.

There are medicines that help me,
And people there who truly care.
When the memories come crashing back,
I know the VA is there.

So if you're sitting in the darkness,
Thinking you're the only one,
There are veterans fighting battles
Long after the war is done.

[KEY CHANGE #1 — LIFT]

[CHORUS]
The war followed us home.
Across the miles and years.
Different wars and different places,
But we recognize the tears.

We came home and built our lives,
But some battles linger on.
You can leave the battlefield behind,
And still bring the war back home.

[BRIDGE — QUIET, THEN BUILD]
And this isn’t only Vietnam.

Korea.
The Persian Gulf.
Iraq.
Afghanistan.

Different generations.
Different uniforms.
Different names for distant places.

But sometimes the same long nights.

And sometimes the same question:

When does coming home
finally feel like coming home?

[INSTRUMENTAL BUILD — STRINGS RISING]

[KEY CHANGE #2 — BIGGER EMOTIONAL LIFT]

[FINAL CHORUS — SOARING]
The war followed me home,
But it didn't take my life.
Through every dark and lonely night,
Somehow I survived.

And when tomorrow finds me,
I'll get up and try again.
Because underneath these memories,
I'm still the man I've always been.

The war followed me home,
But I'm still standing here.
After all the miles and all the years,
I'm still here.

[FINAL REFRAIN — GENTLE, EMOTIONAL]
Vietnam still comes back in my dreams.
The young man and the old man become one.
Then I open my eyes in Las Vegas
And wait for another morning to come.

[LONG INSTRUMENTAL OUTRO — NO MORE VOCALS]
[GRAND PIANO REPRISE, CELLO, WARM STRINGS]
[SLOW, COMPLETE INSTRUMENTAL ENDING]