"Before This World"(2015) INTRO (lower case: individual notes not chords) #- - -- - Back home Indiana we just learn to get along Civilized and socialized they teach you right from wrong How to hold your liquor and how to hold your tongue / How to hold woman or baby or gun But nothing will prepare you for the far Afghanistan You can listen to their stories and pick up what you can You listen to their stories maybe read a book or two Until they send you out there man you haven’t got a clue Oh the Hindu Kush the Band-e Amir the Hazara They tell you a tradition in the hills of Kandahar They say young boys are taken to the wilderness out there Taken to the mountain alone and in the night If he makes it home alive they teach him how to fight They fought against the Russians they fought against the Brits Hell they fought old Alexander talking ’bout him ever since And after 9/11 here comes your Uncle Sam Another painful lesson in the far Afghanistan / I was ready to be terrified and ready to be mad I was ready to be homesick the worst I’ve ever had I expected to be hated and insulted to my face But nothing could prepare me for the beauty of the place No matter what they tell you all soldiers talk to God It’s a private conversation written in your blood The enemy’s no different bad-ass holy wind That crazy bastard talks to God and his God talks back to him / (solo) [fade out ...]