I composed this song in 2004 after learning that my best friend had been killed in Ramadi, Iraq. "Dennis J. Miller, 21, was killed Wednesday in Ramadi when a rocket propelled grenade hit his M1A1 Abrams tank, the Pentagon said."

When I was a child my momma used to say
Don't you ever let them see you run away,
I tried to obey the words she said that day
But now I'm running and I just can't get away.

My father drifted away my mother's dead and gone
My sister died of shame my brother never came home,
I've been running so long I just can't run no more
Lord I've been running since the day that I was born.

I know that thieves can steal I know that liars can lie
I guess that I'll be a fool until the day I die,
I've seen more hard times than I would care to count
I know that nobody knows you when you're down and out.

Lord I never thought that I would live this long
And I never thought that I would be this strong,
I hear the voice of an angel singing my last song
Lord I never thought that I would live this long.

#banjo #folkmusic #bluesmusic #acousticmusic #veterans