IF THIS RIFLE COULD TALK
AS I WALKED ALONG A BEACH IN
I SPIED PART OF A RIFLE RUSTING IN THE SUN
HONEYCOMBED BY SALT WATER THROUGH THE YEARS
WAS IT STAINED BY A SOLDIER’S BLOOD AND HIS TEARS?
THIS WORLD WAR RELIC FROM A BEACH IN
CAME FROM THE SEA INVASION THAT CHANGED HISTORY
WHO CARRIED THIS RIFLE AND FROM WHAT DISTANT LAND?
DID HE GRIP THIS RIFLE TIGHTLY AS HE CHARGED ONTO THE SAND?
CHORUS
IF THIS RIFLE COULD TALK WHAT TALES IT WOULD TELL
OF MEN LIVING AND DYING IN A MAN MADE HELL
THEY CAME TO FREE
BUT WHAT A PRICE THOSE MEN PAID TO KEEP US FREE
DID HE CLIMB UP THE CLIFFS WHERE THE GERMAN BUNKERS REMAIN
OR DID HE SPILL HIS GUTS ON THE BEACH IN A HELLISH WORLD OF PAIN?
HAD THIS MAN FOUGHT THROUGH THE WAR LIKE MY UNCLE HAD DONE
RETURNING HOME WITH A FULL HEART KNOWING FREEDOM HAD WON?
REPEAT CHORUS
AS I GRIPPED THIS OLD RIFLE I PRAYED FOR THIS RIFLEMAN
MY HEART ACHED FINDING HIS RIFLE IN THE SAND
FOR IF HE HAD LIVED, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN IN HIS HAND
NOT PARTLY BURIED IN
REPEAT CHORUS
Joe Pickering Songwriter C 2006
King of the Road Music BMI Music Publisher