re: Deepest, most depressing, hard hitting, or thought provoking rock/pop song lyrics

Billy Don't be a Hero

The marching band came down along Main Street
The soldier blues fell in behind
I looked across and there I saw Billy
Waiting to go and join the line
And with her head upon his shoulder
His young and lovely fiancee
From where I stood I saw she was crying
And through her tears I heard her say
Billy, don't be a hero, don't be a fool with your life
Billy, don't be a hero, come back and make me your wife
And as he started to go she said, Billy, keep your head low
Billy, don't be a hero, come back to me
The soldier blues were trapped on a hillside
The battle raging all around
The sergeant cried, "We've got to hang on, boys!
We've got to hold this piece of ground"
I need a volunteer to ride up
And bring us back some extra men
And Billy's hand was up in a moment
Forgetting all the words she said
She said
Billy, don't be a hero, don't be a fool with your life
Billy, don't be a hero, come back and make me your wife
And as he started to go she said, Billy, keep your head low
Billy, don't be a hero, come back to me
I heard his fiancee got a letter
That told how Billy died that day
The letter said that he was a hero
She should be proud he died that way
I heard she threw that letter away

One Tin soldier

Listen, children, to a story
That was written long ago
'Bout a kingdom on a mountain
And the valley-folk below
On the mountain was a treasure
Buried deep beneath the stone
And the valley-people swore
They'd have it for their very own
Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of heaven
You can justify it in the end
There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgment day
On the bloody morning after
One tin soldier rides away
So the people of the valley
Sent a message up the hill
Asking for the buried treasure
Tons of gold for which they'd kill
It came an answer from the mountain
With our brothers we will share
All the secrets of our mountain
All the riches buried there
Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of heaven
You can justify it in the end
There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgment day
On the bloody morning after
One tin soldier rides away
Now the valley cried with anger
"Mount your horses! Draw your sword!"
And they killed the mountain-people
So they won their just reward
Now they stood beside the treasure
On the mountain, dark and red
Turned the stone and looked beneath it
"Peace on Earth" was all it said
Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of heaven
You can justify it in the end
There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgment day
On the bloody morning after
One tin soldier rides away
Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of heaven
You can justify it in the end
There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgment day
On the bloody morning after
One tin soldier rides away

Jason Isbell - Elephant

She said, "Andy, you're better than your past"
Winked at me and drained her glass
Crosslegged on the barstool, like nobody sits anymore
She said, "Andy, you're taking me home"
But I knew she planned to sleep alone
I'd carry her to bed and sweep up the hair from the floor

If I had fricked her before she got sick
I'd never hear the end of it
She don't have the spirit for that now
We just drink our drinks and laugh out loud
Bitch about the weekend crowd
And try to ignore the elephant somehow
Somehow

She said, "Andy, you crack me up"
Seagrams in a coffee cup
Sharecropper eyes and her hair almost all gone
When she was drunk she made cancer jokes
Made up her own doctor's notes
Surrounded by her family, I saw that she was dying alone

I'd sing her classic country songs
And she'd get high and sing along
She don't have a voice to sing with now
We burn these joints in effigy
Cry about what we used to be
Try to ignore the elephant somehow
Somehow

I've buried her a thousand times
Giving up my place in line
But I don't give a damn about that now
There's one thing that's real clear to me:
No one dies with dignity
We just try to ignore the elephant somehow
We just try to ignore the elephant somehow
We just try to ignore the elephant somehow
Somehow
Somehow