All the men are
gone, all the men are gone
What will you do
mama when all the men are gone?
Some have taken
wives, some their own lives
Some have taken
planes, and some of them new names
What will you do
mama when all the men are gone?
Some of them in
tears, some of them in fear
Some for other
gods, some well just because
Some of them for
cash, some as smoke and ash
Some of them for
right, some of them for wrong
Some of them so
brave, some of them as slaves
Some of them with
guns, some of them with bombs
Some of them in
pain, some in driving rain
Some before the
Flood, some in wrath of God
Some of them
diseased, some in search of peace
Some of them in
hate, some of them in love
Some for your
defense, some in arrogance
Some on the
Hermon, some in Lebanon
The morning of
June 6th 1982, fifteenth anniversary of the outbreak of the 6 Day War, morning
of the invasion of southern Lebanon - the so-called War of Peace for Galilee.
The kibbutz was deserted except for the women and children, those too old or
sick to fight, and those foreigners who, like myself, were allowed only a
passive participation in the war. I sat in my room trying to work out why all
the men had gone, and did not like any of the answers I came up with.
A country at war
could be almost anywhere in the world, and usually is. Those wishing to
universalise this song should simply delete the final couplet; those wishing to
personalise it might be glad of some help in finding suitable rhymes;
Somme-Rouen, Mekong-Saigon, Kreznakovsk-Brest Litovsk etc
You can find David Prashker at:
If
you would like to include "All The Men Are Gone" in your repertoire,
either for paid public performance or to record for commercial
purposes, or if you would like to re-use the recordings attached to this
blog-page for commercial purposes, contact
argaman@theargamanpress.com.
Use of this song, and/or these recordings, for
non-commercial purposes, is not simply permitted but invited.
Words and music by David Prashker
Copyright © 2014 David Prashker
All rights reserved
The Argaman Press
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