Rise AgainstHero Of War (4:13)

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About This Track

The song, “Hero of War”, from the fifth studio album by American punk rock band Rise Against “Appeal to Reason(released in North America on October 7, 2008) is about an Iraq War Veteran looking back on his war experiences. It is described by Rolling Stone as an “ambivalent aggro-folk track”. McIlrath said of the song, “I wanted to take the perspective of ‘What is the war going to be looked back on as?’” He went on to say, “There are not many songs… talking about what’s going on during eight years of occupation in Iraq. That, combined with meeting active soldiers and retired soldiers at our shows and hearing those stories about what is going on on the ground amid all the bullshit, showed me the differences from what is really happening to what is happening in the news media. I just thought that this needed to go into a song.” He said about the song in another interview, “It was a way to document what’s going on, like other artists documented for their generation and for generations to come.”

Songwriters: Barnes, Brandon; Chasse, Christopher; Mcilrath, Timothy; Principe, Joseph Daniel;

The lyrics:

He said, “Son, have you seen the world?
Well, what would you say if I said that you could?
Just carry this gun, you’ll even get paid”
I said, “That sounds pretty good”

Black leather boots, spit shined so bright
They cut off my hair but it looks alright
We marched and we sang
We all became friends as we learned how to fight

A hero of war, yeah that’s what I’ll be
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  • wammywaffles

    This song is good but it is truly chilliing.

    yesterday morning
  • jolly788

    PLEASE DON'T READ THIS. YOU WILL BE KISSED ON THE NEAREST POSSIBLE FRIDAY BY THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE.TOMORROW WILL BE THE BEST DAY OF YOUR LIFE. NOW YOU'VE STARTED READING THIS. DON'T STOP. THIS IS SO FREAKY. 1. say your name 10 times 2. say your mom's name 5 times 3. say your crushes name 3 times 4. paste this to 4 other songs. if you do this, your crush will kiss you on the nearest Friday. but if you read this and do not paste this, then you will have very bad luck. SEND THIS TO 5 SONGS IN 143 MINUTES. WHEN YOU'RE DONE PRESS F6 AND YOUR CRUSH'S NAME WILL APPEAR IN BIG LETTERS ON THE SCREEN. THIS IS SO FREAKY BECAUSE IT ACTUALLY WORK

    Sunday afternoon
  • Raesyricon

    I got chills around the part "I told them to stop but then I joined in". fuck.

    13 days ago
  • Mercenarion

    Pretentious schlock. It's an okay song.

    15 days ago
  • sockpuppetman1

    and below me you can see pseudo intelligent teenagers talk of the philosophy of war

    19 days ago
  • Gogolock

    liked it

    26 days ago
  • ErikHauenstein

    Fantastic!

    last month
  • Taufred13

    ...a flag white as snoooow... <= thats the saddest verse i ever heard and one of the best. [3]

    last month
  • Osmolaman

    So great.

    last month
  • Masxmasx

    ...a flag white as snoooow... <= thats the saddest verse i ever heard and one of the best. [2]

    March 2012
  • elitescorpios

    War is such a complicated and dangerous thing. It can make men heroes and monsters.

    March 2012
  • plsdontbetaken

    this highlights the smaller picture- the scars that are left behind after all shit has hit the fan...nice and sad, kicked my party mood outta t he window. ambivalent. haunting. sweet. bitter. a whole lotta other paradoxical things at once

    March 2012
  • DeathNoteAddict

    I've always seemed to like a lot of songs that r about war :P Brilliant <3

    March 2012
  • crazykarma138

    fucking brilliant

    March 2012
  • _harro_

    Heard this song the first time while they were playing a concert. Gave me f****** goosebumps.

    March 2012
  • Araknusfm

    ♥♥♥

    March 2012
  • shmliek

    <3

    March 2012
  • x3R0x_Dude

    LIKE LIKE LIKE LOVE!!!!

    March 2012
  • Miss_Malli

    <3

    March 2012
  • Darya_sp

    <3

    February 2012
See all 554 shouts

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