2026 Competition Entry:
Friendly Fire by John E Ruffle
- Submitted:
- 3 Comments
Lyrics
[Chorus]
We don’t want war, they say
That’s quite insane
But we’re out to get you
Just the same.
[Verse 1]
Those precision bombs are falling
Over hand-picked sites this morning
But don’t you worry
It’s just another story
Unless you’re the dead or mourning
The wicked hearts and minds of rulers
There’s no limit to their crimes
And all this human misery and suffering
To them it’s only numbers
And the body-counts are just fine
Friend or foe, they all are liars
There’s no such thing as friendly fire
Because war is never just, or good or kind
Just clinical destruction
Aimed by a precision AI mind.
[Chorus]
We don’t want war, they say
That’s quite insane
But we’re out to get you
Just the same.
[Verse 2]
You’re in your bunkers
As your drones fly high
But don’t forget
One day you’re gonna die
And you think you’ll escape that final day
But you’ve no excuse, no words to say
That justify the crimes you’ve made
You may blame the serpent you obeyed
Followed all his lying ways
And your soul’s required this very day
And you think war’s just on the news
It’s far away, with no effect on you.
But the battle rages in each human heart
And this is where the battle starts
And where the devil makes his mark.
[Chorus]
We don’t want war, they say
That’s quite insane
But we’re out to get you
Just the same.
[Verse 1]
Those precision bombs are falling
Over hand-picked sites this morning
But don’t you worry
It’s just another story unless you’re the dead or mourning
The wicked hearts and minds of rulers
There’s no limit to their crimes
And all this human misery and suffering
To them it’s only numbers and the body-counts are just fine
Friend or foe, they all are liars
There’s no such thing as friendly fire
Because war is never just, or good or kind
Just clinical destruction
Aimed by a precision AI mind.
[Chorus]
We don’t want war, they say
That’s quite insane
But we’re out to get you
Just the same.
We don’t want war, they say
That’s quite insane
But we’re out to get you
Just the same.
[Verse 1]
Those precision bombs are falling
Over hand-picked sites this morning
But don’t you worry
It’s just another story
Unless you’re the dead or mourning
The wicked hearts and minds of rulers
There’s no limit to their crimes
And all this human misery and suffering
To them it’s only numbers
And the body-counts are just fine
Friend or foe, they all are liars
There’s no such thing as friendly fire
Because war is never just, or good or kind
Just clinical destruction
Aimed by a precision AI mind.
[Chorus]
We don’t want war, they say
That’s quite insane
But we’re out to get you
Just the same.
[Verse 2]
You’re in your bunkers
As your drones fly high
But don’t forget
One day you’re gonna die
And you think you’ll escape that final day
But you’ve no excuse, no words to say
That justify the crimes you’ve made
You may blame the serpent you obeyed
Followed all his lying ways
And your soul’s required this very day
And you think war’s just on the news
It’s far away, with no effect on you.
But the battle rages in each human heart
And this is where the battle starts
And where the devil makes his mark.
[Chorus]
We don’t want war, they say
That’s quite insane
But we’re out to get you
Just the same.
[Verse 1]
Those precision bombs are falling
Over hand-picked sites this morning
But don’t you worry
It’s just another story unless you’re the dead or mourning
The wicked hearts and minds of rulers
There’s no limit to their crimes
And all this human misery and suffering
To them it’s only numbers and the body-counts are just fine
Friend or foe, they all are liars
There’s no such thing as friendly fire
Because war is never just, or good or kind
Just clinical destruction
Aimed by a precision AI mind.
[Chorus]
We don’t want war, they say
That’s quite insane
But we’re out to get you
Just the same.
Author
Bio
At 74, it’s wonderful to be able to encourage young, emerging talent, just as it’s amazing to still have friends who grew up in the ’60s to the soundtrack of the Beatles. I now have the time to devote myself to writing lyrics as well as hanging out with musicians at the BPM Café – my favourite venue in the music-rich Moseley Village, Birmingham – and where my young son is learning piano. With my lyrics submission, “Friendly Fire”, it’s probably obvious that I’m a great fan of early Bob Dylan. Although I’m a member of our church choir, singing a mix of CCM and older hymn book favourites, I was quite wild in my youth, joining anti-war protesters outside the White House back in the early 1970s before returning to my homeland – England.
Leave a comment
It just so happened that I submitted this Dylanesque piece to TiT on the day “The War” broke out – most appropriate, although I wrote it a while ago, and I did create a scratch track I’ve made from these lyrics.
GREAT lyrics and great even as a poem! It reminds me of a song I wrote many years ago after walking the battlefields of northern France around Ypres.
Thanks Martin! I wrote it last year, but the timing for it to enter this contest couldn’t be better – by coincidence, I submitted this one to the contest the same day that bombs first began dropping on Iran: call that serendipity! And yes, I’m influenced by Bob Dylan. I’ve produced a full scratch-track for this with the musical elements generated by Songer.co and Suno.ai. If the contest hadn’t already closed, I’d like to have submitted the scratch track version as well – lyrics unchanged of course.