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Ballad of Sergeant Malone

from Coup d'etat by Chris Gheran

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  • Comes with a high quality iron-on patch, lyrics booklet, poem, and hi-rez photos, including a visual inventory of Gheran's military paraphernalia.

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about

Vietnam War took its toll

lyrics

Well, poor old Sergeant Malone
Well now he is dead and gone
But there may be a surprise at the end of the line
For poor old Sergeant Malone.

He had seventeen girls ‘fore he married
All precious young beauties were they
But they shake their fists, and they curse his name right down to this very day

As a child he fought with rage and hell fire;
in the face of adversity burned
Well “Live and let live” a phrase we all know,
I guess one that he never learned.

Well, at 21 he joined the army, the infantry second brigade
And when he’d marched the square a thousand times
Well the boats came and took him away

With his rifle raised to his shoulder,
he was known to aim tried and true
And so it is said, when they counted the dead,
The sergeant had killed 22.

On the beaches of Normandy he killed them
‘Cross France he was knocking them dead
And to his delight, the whole time, in his mouth was a cigarette.
Well we all know the sergeant he made it, not unchanged by the things he had seen
And if you ask him he might say he “I’m doing all right”
But he still sees friends die in his dreams.

Well his wife yeah she later on left him
I know sometimes him would think
“Well now I’m 43 with the things that I’ve seen, who wants an old hound dog like me?”

On a stormy day in November, got the pistol out of his room
And as the rain poured down, he put the gun in his mouth but he just couldn’t see it through.

So he tried 7 days later; this time with poison pills
And the pills it seems that they changed those dream
He saw friends in those who loved him still
He was smiling when they finally found him
Sure as I’m here he was dead. And to his delight, when he died, in his mouth was a cigarette.

credits

from Coup d'etat, track released April 9, 2010

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Chris Gheran Calgary, Alberta

It's HARD FOLK filled with fresh and poignant phrases! Chris Gheran's vibrant, heartfelt, and contemporary work is informed by the classics: Dylan, The Beatles, George Formby, and his continuous study of musicians in all genres.

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