I always knew that you would take yourself far from home As soon as, as far as, you could go By the quarter inch cut of your hair and the Army issue pay For the past eight weeks I can tell where you've been For I knew, I could see, it was all cut and dried to me There was soldier's blue blood streaming inside your veins There is a world outside of this room And when you meet it promise me You won't meet it with your gun So now you are one of the brave few It's awfully sad we need boys like you I hope the day never comes For here's your live round son Stock and barrel, safety trigger, here's your gun Well I knew, I could see, it was all cut and dried to me There was soldiers blue blood streaming inside your veins There is a world outside of this room And when you meet it promise me You won't meet it with your gun taking aim For I don't mean to argue They've made a decent boy of you And I don't mean to spoil your homecoming But baby brother you should expect me to "Stock and barrel, safety trigger, here's your gun" So now does your heart pitter pat, with a patriotic song When you see the stripes of old glory waving? Well I knew, I could see, it was all cut and dried to me There was soldier's blue blood streaming inside your veins There is a world outside of this room And when you meet it promise me You won't meet it with your gun taking aim Well, I don't mean to argue, they've made a decent boy of you And I don't mean to spoil your homecoming, my baby brother Jude Oh, I don't mean to hurt you by saying this again They're so good at making soldiers but they're not as good at making men