NEAL MORSE – He Died at Home
from “Life & Times” (2018)
Capo 1st fret
[Intro]
D Dsus4 D Dsus4
[Verse 1]
D A Bm
William always wanted to be a soldier
G F#sus4 F# Bm
“Army men were his favorite toys” tells his mother
D F#m Bm
He was going to be the hero of the story
Em F#sus4 F# Bm
Live with honor or die in a blaze of glory
[Chorus 1]
G D/F#
So he joined when he was seventeen
Em D/F#
Kissed his mom goodbye
G D/F#
She wept as she packed his duffel bag
Em Bm A
With notes of love and pride
G D/F#
She’d never guess six years from then
Em D/F#
Tortured and alone
G Em Bm Asus4
William wouldn’t die in fields unknown
A
He died at home
[Instrumental]
D Dsus4 D Dsus4
[Verse 2]
D A Bm
He loved the army, it’s all he ever wanted
G F#sus4 F# Bm A/C#
To serve his country and look death in the face undaunted
D F#m Bm
But after a couple of tours, the fire in him died
Em F#sus4 F# Bm
You can’t watch friends be killed and stay the same inside
[Chorus 2]
G D
He told his mom “you’d hate me
Em D
If you knew the things I’ve done”
G D
“I will never hate you
Em Bm Asus4 A
You are my beloved son”
G D
He said, “no mom, the son you loved
Em D
Died somewhere over there”
G Em Bm Asus4
But William didn’t die in the combat zone
A
He died at home
[Instrumental]
D Em D/F# G D G A/C#
[Verse 3]
D A Bm
He came back ill at ease with civilians
G F#sus4 F# Bm
His mother woke to screaming – it was William’s
D F#m Bm
The army shrugged and gave him more prescriptions
Em F#sus4 F# Bm
As William’s mind grew more and more distant
[Chorus 3]
G D
Before he died he told his mom
Em D
“Don’t bury me in my uniform
G D
No military funeral
Em D
That’s for some who gave their all”
A E/G#
One night he shot the soldier dead
F#m E/G#
To kill the voices in his head
A E/G#
They gathered at the weekly wake
F#m E/G#
They have at every army base
B F#/A#
‘Cause more will die by their own hand
G#m F#/A#
Than fall in any foreign land
B F#/A#
They covered William in the flag
G#m F#/A#
But there was not a boast or brag
B F#/A#
When asked how soldier William died
G#m C# D#m
No one mentions suicide
B F#/A# C#sus4 C#
The cause of death is hard to say out loud
B F#/A# C#sus4 C#
The soldier who once stood so strong and proud
B G#m C#sus4
His mother looks away and simply moans
C#
He died at home
[Outro]
F# F#sus4 F# F#sus4 F#