Live 16 Nov 2005 version
[Spoken intro:] Alright. This was uh... when I was, I was living in Freehold, the importance of local bands... (cheers) Yeah, let's hear for that hell hole! (more cheers) Alright. The importance of uh... of local bands sometimes you don't notice. But when you're a kid and you're just staring out, they're all that you had to hold on to. And I remember when all my heroes that won records were like a million away, and you could never see them or reach them. There was some local bands in the area, and one in particular that was so important to your musical development. There was a band called "The Motifs" in that area, and they were guys a little... (clears throat) a little older than us and uh... ???... and uh, um... but they were great, they were great. Uh, the lead singer was kinda this, this beautiful guy that had this really, very funky and unusual voice, and, and the thing that was important was that you could get up close to them, and they didn't mind us, but, you know, pushing the girls away in the front and standing all night in front of them and, and watch them how they were playing and, and what they were doing. There was two brothers, they were called the Cichon brothers. One was Walter and, and one was Ray. Ray was the guitarist. And they were incredibly uh, important to, you know, the early stages of early development. They were there at the end of the night. You could talk to them and they could show you how to do things and... I wrote this song for Walter, Walter Cichon. He uh... he joined the Marines in, in the late sixties and he was killed in Vietnam. This is a song I was down... (clears throat) I was in Washington, I was visiting the wall, and I wrote this, wrote this for him. This is called "The Wall". ???. Alright.
Cigarettes and a bottle of beer, this poem that I wrote for you
This black stone and these hard tears, they are all I got left now of you
I remember you in your Marine uniform laughing, laughing at your shipping out party
I read Robert McNamara says he's sorry
Yeah you and your boots and black t-shirt, ah, Billy you looked so bad
Yeah you and your rock and roll band was the best thing this shit town ever had
Now the men that put you here eat with their families in rich dining halls
And apology and forgiveness got no place here at all, here at the wall
Well I'm sorry that I missed you last year, I couldn't find no one to drive me
If your eyes could cut through that black stone, tell me would they recognize me
For the living time that must be served, life goes on
Cigarettes and a bottle of beer, and skin on a black stone
High school pictures and paper flowers, and these ribbons are red as the blood
Yeah as the blood you spilled in the Central Highlands mud
Now limousines rush down Pennsylvania Avenue as the rain falls
Apology and forgiveness got no place here at all
The above lyrics are for the 16 Nov 2005 performance of THE WALL at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, NJ, during the Devils & Dust Solo Acoustic Tour.
List of available versions of THE WALL on this website:
THE WALL [Album version]
