"Het lied begint met het geluid van getjilp van krekels, wat het gevoel geeft dat de avond eraan komt, het geluid dat verandert in het gerinkel van windgong 's nachts. Vervolgens hoor je het geluid van helikopters, dat beelden oproept van helikopters, die mariniers meenemen naar de strijd in de oorlog in Vietnam of gewonde mariniers oppikken. Dan speelt Joel een intro op de piano, voordat hij begint te zingen. Aan het einde van het lied wordt de opening herhaald, het intro keert terug, gevolgd door het geluid van helikopters, dan windgong en tenslotte de krekels, voordat het lied ten einde loopt."

Joel has said of the song:

"Time has a way of healing wounds or making them easier to look at to see if they've scabbed up. The guys came home from Vietnam and that's it? It doesn't end until these guys are absorbed into the mainstream and we deal with our feelings about it."

Tekst:

We met as soulmates
On Parris Island
We left as inmates
From an asylum
And we were sharp
As sharp as knives
And we were so gung ho to lay down our lives

We came in spastic
Like tameless horses
We left in plastic
As numbered corpses
And we learned fast
To travel light
Our arms were heavy
But our bellies were tight

We had no homefront
We had no soft soap
They sent us playboy
They gave us bob hope
We dug in deep
And shot on sight
And prayed to Jesus Christ
With all of our might

We had no cameras
To shoot the landscape
We passed the hash pipe
And played our Doors tapes
And it was dark
So dark at night
And we held onto each other
Like brother to brother
We promised our mothers we'd write

And we would all go down together
We said we'd all go down together
Yes we would all go down together
Remember Charlie
Remember Baker
They left their childhood
On every acre
And who was wrong
And who was right
It didn't matter
In the thick of the fight
We, held the day
In the palm of our hands
They, ruled the night
And the night, seemed to last
As long as six weeks
On Parris Island
We held the coastline
They held the highland
And they were sharp
As sharp as knives
They heard the hum of the motors
They counted the rotors
And waited for us to arrive

And we would all go down together
We said we'd all go down together
Yes we would all go down together

Writers: Billy Joel

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics licensed by LyricFind