Black Wall [Dennis DeYoung]

Black Wall
(for those who served, whether by choice or chance and have cried "Back To The World")
Written by Dennis DeYoung
Lead Vocals by Dennis DeYoung

I was lucky you know
I wasn't there
I didn't have to go and face my fear
But still this hidden pain
Comes up from the belly of the beast
And even ten years past
We're haunted now from both sides of the truth
And the ghosts of Dienbienphu

This war keeps hangin' on
As if it were today
'Cause many a good men died
On the road from Tet to Hue
They won every battle they fought
But the one that raged at home
And now the only words that count
Are the names carved out in stone
As tears fall onto stone

Black Wall
Black Wall

Sound the bugle boy
For a twenty-one gun salute
Call for the ticker tape
And assemble all the troops
Not a word about dominoes
Or the horrors of napalm
Let Johnny come marching home
And greet him with a prayer and a psalm
For the boys of Vietnam
The boys of Vietnam
Let Johnny come back to the world

Back to the world
Back to the world

Interpretation

The Black Wall is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. which displays the names of all the American men and women who died in Vietnam. Of all the wars/conflicts in American history, Vietnam seems to have left the deepest emotional scars, largely due to the extreme demands on the soldiers combined with the dwindling public support back home that led many soldiers to be vilified and treated as outcasts upon returning instead of being welcomed home as heroes as was done for soldiers in previous wars ("They won every battle they fought but the one that raged at home"). As Dennis says in the opening of the song, "I was lucky you know. I wasn't there. I didn't have to go and face my fear."