Soldier's Return
1967 · Allandale 3661 · USA
- Artist
- Steve Austin
- Title
- Soldier's Return
- Release
- Soldier's Return / You Set the Pattern
- Year
- 1967
- Label
- Allandale # 3661
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- USA
- Genre
- Country · Country
- Primary theme
- Home Front Perspective / Soldier's Perspective
Annotation
Soldier's Return (Austin, Steve). Country music. Narrated from soldier's perspective - plight of soldier. Lost a leg in Vietnam. He feared his wife would not want him. "I was coming home from Vietnam I could see the old home now Though I still had a mile to go I'd make it there somehow I wondered how my wife and son looked How much she changed, how much he'd grown And how they'd take the change in me And what had happened while I was gone Worrying all the times I'd written Although I knew it was wrong I never once admitted that my right leg was gone I passed the little brook and the trees... Were we stood together long ago And she promised to be mine And she whispered I will always love you, come what may Would she remember that promise?... Then I saw her coming down the stairs, a lovely sight... But she faulted for a moment when she caught sight of me I gripped my crutches tighter and I felt my body shake... Then she ran to me...and said darling welcome home... When she said, all that matters, is that you've come back to me Only once in a lifetime do you find girl like mine I was ashamed that my belief in her was shaken for a time And each night a say a prayer to god and thank…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Unknown - "Soldier's Return" b/w "You Set The Pattern" (Allandale Records 45-3661, Stylecraft Music, 1967, folk/country). The 1967 date pre-dates both famous Steve Austins (the wrestler; the Six Million Dollar Man character, 1972/74), ruling out namesake confusion; no identity is documented for the man on the label. [Source: Discogs]