Front Line

About Front Line

"Front Line" is a 1983 song written and produced by American R&B singer and songwriter Stevie Wonder, off his greatest hits compilation Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium I (1982). The song is sung from the perspective of a Vietnam War veteran. The protagonist tells the story of how he volunteered to go to Vietnam in 1964 at age sixteen, despite being raised to never kill anyone. After losing his leg, he is sent home with a Purple Heart. In the present day, his niece is a prostitute, and his nephew is a drug addict, both of whom insist he has no right to tell them they are wrong in their ways. He reads in the newspaper that another war is on its way, and he remembers the 'many happy families that have been ruined.' more »

Year:

1982

5:52

416 Views

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I am a veteran of the war
I up and joined the army back in nineteen-sixty-four
At sixteen, I just had to be a man at any cost
I volunteered for Vietnam, where I got my leg shot off
I recall a quote form a movie that said "who's more a man
Than a man with a reason that's worth dyin' for?"

They had me standing on the front line
They had me standing on the front line
They had me standing on the front line
But now I stand at the back of the line when it comes to gettin' ahead

They gave me a uniform and a tiny salty pill
To stop the big urge I might have for the wrong kind of thrill
They put a gun in my hand and said "shoot until he's dead"
But it's hard to kill when "please, I'm your friend" echoes through your head
Brought up in church taught no man should take another's life
But then put in the jungle where life has no price, no

They had me standing on the front line
They had me standing on the front line
They had me standing on the front line
But now I stand at the back of the line when it comes to gettin' ahead

Back in the world, the paper reads today
Another war is in the brewing
But what about the lives of yesterday?
And the many happy families that have been ruined?
My niece is a hooker and my nephew's a junkie, too
But they say I have no right to tell them how they should do
They laugh and say quit "braggin' 'bout the war you should have never been in"
But my mind is so brainwashed I'd probably go back and do it again
I walk the neighborhood, parading my purple heart
With a fear of agent orange that no one will stop, no

They had me standing on the front line
They had me standing on the front line
They had me standing on the front line
But now I stand at the back of the line when it comes to gettin' ahead

They had me standing on the front line
They had me standing on the front line
They had me standing on the front line
But now I stand at the back of the line when it comes to gettin' ahead

Would you believe I do?
They had me standing on the front line
They had me standing on the front line
They had me standing on the front line
But now I stand at the back of the line when it comes to gettin' ahead

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Stevie Wonder

Stevland Hardaway Morris (born May 13, 1950 as Stevland Hardaway Judkins), known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, a child prodigy who developed into one of the most creative musical figures of the late 20th century. Blind since shortly after birth, Wonder signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of eleven, and continues to perform and record for Motown to this day. more »

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