Eric Bogle Welcome Home Lyrics

Welcome Home Lyrics

"Welcome Home"

-Eric Bogle



Now when the boys came home, Annie cried
and Annie cheered

She'd been on her own for a long and lonely
year

Living for his letters from far away Vietnam

And dreading the
official telegram



So she was waiting at the station when his train
came rolling in

She ached with anticipation of holding him again

And
suddenly he was standing there in his crumpled uniform

In a heartbeat she
was in his arms



Welcome home, boys, welcome home

Don't you know,
you've been gone too long

Did you wonder, over there,

when you were
tired, when you were scared,

If your country really cared, welcome
home



When a nation goes to war, everyone's a casualty

Some are
maimed and scarred, most have wounds you cannot see

So in place of the man
that she had known,

Annie found instead, a sick and troubled stranger in
her bed



But she was stubborn, she was lovin', so she stayed all
through the years

The hard times and the drinking, the nightmares and the
tears

For where hate is muddy quicksand, love is tempered steel

Annie
waited for his wounds to heal



Welcome home, boys, welcome
home

Don't you know, you've been gone too long

We're just so glad that
you're alive

And only you will wonder why

You lived when others died,
welcome home



So on a sunny Sydney morning, I heard old war drums
beat

and watched the boys come marching, down the city street*

To claim
their place in the nation's heart

that their blood and pain had earned

A
nation that rejoiced in their return



And if the day helped to heal some
wounds is a matter of debate

For some it had come none too soon, for others
far too late

But I found myself hoping, as the boys went marching
past

That for them the war was over, at last



Welcome home, boys,
welcome home

Don't you know, you've been gone too long

What you went
through in Vietnam, we can't begin to understand

But to each and every man,
welcome home



Welcome home, boys, welcome home

Don't you know,
you've been gone too long

May the years bring you release, as the memories
decrease

May you find some kind of peace, welcome home

May you find
some kind of peace, welcome
home





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NOTES:

ANZAC Day Parade. 
ANZAC Day is Australia's version of

Memorial Day in the US and Canada