Casualties of War or Love

Verse 1

Grandma's radio now sits in my room

The dial still points to the same station

I traced her stitches till my fingers knew

The map of every lost relation

The blue scarf hangs where the window meets the wall

And it hums a tune that never fades at all

Talking Blues

Now I drove through Mostar in the summer heat

The bridge was new but the river was old

A man was selling apples by the street

He said the sweet ones come from trees grown bold

He pointed to a hill where the crosses stand

Said that's where they buried the promised land

Chorus

So I sing the names they never wrote

Down the wire and off the stone

Every syllable a prayer

Every pause a scar I own

Verse 2

I went down to the river with the red clay jar

And I poured the names into the current's flow

Every syllable a prayer every pause a scar

The water took them where the mountains go

I don't know if they can hear us anymore

But I sing them anyway outside the door

Pre-Chorus

The dial crackles soft and low

Static turns to voices I should know

Mm mm

Mm mm mm

Chorus

So I sing the names they never wrote

Down the wire and off the stone

Every syllable a prayer

Every pause a scar I own

Verse 3

Uncle kept a photograph in his coat

Folded small beside his heart for years

The faces young the eyes afloat

The date is worn away by tears

He said the war was all they knew for sure

But love was what they carried through the door

Pre-Chorus

The dial crackles soft and low

Static turns to voices I should know

Mm mm

Mm mm mm

Chorus

So I sing the names they never wrote

Down the wire and off the stone

Every syllable a prayer

Every pause a scar I own

Bridge

Mothers count their missing years

Daughters wear their father's eyes

Somewhere past the mountains here

Every silence multiplies

I hold the scarf up to the light

And pray the names come back tonight

Chorus

So I sing the names they never wrote

Down the wire and off the stone

Every syllable a prayer

Every pause a scar I own

I sing them anyway

I sing them anyway

Outside the door

Outro

Na na na na na nan na na na nan nan na na

Na na na na na nan na na na nan nan na na

Na na na na na nan na na na nan nan na na