There's a Wall in Washington
1996 · Warner Bros. 9 46188-2 · Burbank, California
- Artist
- Iris DeMent
- Title
- There's a Wall in Washington
- Release
- The Way I Should
- Year
- 1996
- Label
- Warner Bros. # 9 46188-2
- Language
- English
- Country
- Burbank, California, USA
- Songwriter
- Iris DeMent
- Genre
- Country · Country Folk
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation
Singer/songwriter, country artist, born 5 January 1961 in Paragould, Arkansas, USA, and currently based in Iowa City, Iowa, USA. She is married to Americana artist Greg Brown. On this post-war 1996 album she released the song "There's a Wall in Washington" (Warner Bros. Records # 9 46188-2), of course a reference to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. This song contained some anti-war sentiment at the end, with the cry "who is to blame for this wall in Washington" and "why is my father's name etched here in it". The main bulk of the song dealt with a father visiting the memorial to remember his son.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: There's a wall in Washington and it's made of cold black granite / They say 60,000 names are etched there in it, in that wall in Washington / A father, he traveled from far away to walk the path / 'Til he finds that name he reaches his hand up and traces each letter / The tears they fall as his memories gather for the boy who filled his heart with pride / Is now but a name that's been etched in the side of this wall in Washington / A mother she traveled from far away to walk the path / 'Til she finds that name, she reaches her hand up and traces each letter / The tears they fall as her memories gather / She feels the baby at her breast but her heart it breaks because all that is left is this wall in Washington / A boy he traveled from far away to walk the path / 'Til he finds that name, he reaches his hand up and traces each letter / He stares at the name of his unknown father, his heart is young and it's filled with pain / In anger he cries out, "who is to blame for this wall in Washington that's made of cold black granite? / Why is my father's name etched here in it, in this wall in Washington?
About the artist
American singer-songwriter, born 5 January 1961 in Paragould, Arkansas ('Wasteland of the Free'). [Source: Wikipedia]