IF THIS RIFLE COULD TALK

AS I WALKED ALONG A BEACH IN NORMANDY IN SIXTY ONE

I SPIED PART OF A RIFLE RUSTING IN THE SUN

HONEYCOMBED BY SALT WATER THROUGH THE YEARS

WAS IT STAINED BY A SOLDIER’S BLOOD AND HIS TEARS?

THIS WORLD WAR RELIC FROM A BEACH IN NORMANDY

CAME FROM THE SEA INVASION THAT CHANGED HISTORY

WHO CARRIED THIS RIFLE AND FROM WHAT DISTANT LAND?

DID HE GRIP THIS RIFLE TIGHTLY AS HE CHARGED ONTO THE SAND?

CHORUS

IF THIS RIFLE COULD TALK WHAT TALES IT WOULD TELL

OF MEN LIVING AND DYING IN A MAN MADE HELL

THEY CAME TO FREE LIBERTY FROM THE IRON GRIP OF TYRANNY

BUT WHAT A PRICE THOSE MEN PAID TO KEEP US FREE

DID HE CLIMB UP THE CLIFFS WHERE THE GERMAN BUNKERS REMAIN

OR DID HE SPILL HIS GUTS ON THE BEACH IN A HELLISH WORLD OF PAIN?

HAD THIS MAN FOUGHT THROUGH THE WAR LIKE MY UNCLE HAD DONE

RETURNING HOME WITH A FULL HEART KNOWING FREEDOM HAD WON?

REPEAT CHORUS

AS I GRIPPED THIS OLD RIFLE I PRAYED FOR THIS RIFLEMAN

MY HEART ACHED FINDING HIS RIFLE IN THE SAND

FOR IF HE HAD LIVED, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN IN HIS HAND

NOT PARTLY BURIED IN NORMANDY’S BEACH SAND.

REPEAT CHORUS

Joe Pickering Songwriter C 2006

King of the Road Music BMI Music Publisher

13 Pond St.

Bangor, Maine 04401