Emmylou Harris & Linda Ronstadt - 1917 lyrics

rate me

The strange young man who comes to me<br />

A soldier on a three day spree<br />

Who needs one night's cheap ecstasy<br />

And a woman's arms to hide him<br />

<br />

He greets me with a courtly bow<br />

And hides his pain by acting proud<br />

He drinks too much and he laughs too loud<br />

How can I deny him?<br />

<br />

Let us dance beneath the moon<br />

I'll sing to you, "Claire de Lune'<br />

The morning always comes too soon<br />

But tonight the war is over<br />

<br />

He speaks to me in schoolboy French<br />

Of a soldier's life inside a trench<br />

Of the look of death and the ghastly stench<br />

I do my best to please him<br />

<br />

He puts two roses in a vase<br />

Two roses sadly out of place<br />

Like the gallant smile on his haggard face<br />

Playfully I tease him<br />

<br />

Hold me neath the Paris skies<br />

Let's not talk of how or why<br />

Tomorrow's soon enough to die<br />

But tonight the war is over<br />

<br />

We make love too hard too fast<br />

He falls asleep his face a mask<br />

He wakes with the shakes and he drinks from his flask<br />

I put my arms around him<br />

<br />

They die in the trenches and they die in the air<br />

In Belguim and France the dead are everywhere<br />

They die so so fast there's no time to prepare<br />

A decent grave to surround them<br />

<br />

Old world glory old world fame<br />

The old worlds gone gone up in flames<br />

Nothing will ever be the same<br />

And nothing lasts forever<br />

<br />

Oh I'd pray for him but I've forgotten how<br />

And there's nothing, nothing that can save him now<br />

But there's always another with the same funny bow<br />

And who am I to deny them<br />

<br />

Lux aeterna, Luce-at e-is<br />

Domine cum sanctic tu-is in aeternum<br />

Qui-a pius es<br />

Requiem aeternaum dona e-is Domine<br />

Qui-a pius es<br />

Tonight the war is over<br />

<br />

Requiem aeternaum dona e-is Domine<br />

Qui-a pius es<br />

Et lux perpetua luce-at- e-is Cum sancris tu-is in<br />

Aeternum qui-api-us es<br />

Tonight the war is over