There's a purple heart on the stars and stripes tonight 

It's pinned to the chest of the latest liar 

And if you try to speak your mind 

They tell you keep it to yourself 

You got friends in the armed forces 

They wanna know which side you're on 

Doesn't matter cause we'll all be off 



To train, to fight 

Disregard our human rights 

To play the part 

The consciense of the damned 

You say you're defending me 

I'm sick of tying yellow ribbons 

Praying not to see 



Another folded flag to a mourning lover 

He was an army of one but they'll find another 

And in the fold of the body bag 

Somebody check for a heart 

You got friends in the armed forces 

Now we know what a soldier costs 

It's the cost of the rest of us 



To take a life 

We all have our price 

The wife and kids sleep soundly in their beds 

You say you're defending me 

I'm untying yellow ribbons 

On every single tree I see 



They'll float like butterflies back home 

And I can feel the desert's heat 

When you're standing next to me 

Friendship offers no relief 

Stay with me now, just hear me out 

Don't want to lose you to that great black cloud 

Coming down 

You see in the path a bullet makes 

When it calls you by your name 

And the medic can't play the rythym of your heart 

So it starts to fade like footsteps in the march 

The parade passes by our fingertips 

As lives once were right 



To change our minds 

Everything that's wrong looks right 

The lives we lead 

Are somewhere in between 



You say you're defending me 

I'm sick of tying yellow ribbons 

Praying not to see 

We're not going to hell 

To run rings around a wishing well