Blood Upon the Risers
(sung to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic)
He was just a rookie trooper and he surely shook with fright,
He checked all his equipment and made sure his pack was tight;
He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar,
“You ain’t gonna jump no more!”
[CHORUS/]
Gory, gory, what a hellu’va way to die,
Gory, gory, what a hellu’va way to die,
Gory, gory, what a hellu’va way to die,
He ain’t gonna jump no more!
[\CHORUS END]
“Is everybody happy?” cried the Sergeant looking up,
Our Hero feebly answered “Yes,” and then they stood him up;
He crowded(/jumped) into the icy blast, his static line unhooked,
And he ain’t gonna jump no more.
(CHORUS)
He counted long, he counted loud, he waited for the shock,
He felt the wind, he felt the cold, he felt the awful drop,
The silk from his reserve spilled out, and wrapped around his legs,
And he ain’t gonna jump no more.
(CHORUS)
The risers swung around his neck, connectors cracked his dome,
Suspension lines were tied in knots around his skinny bones;
The canopy became his shroud; he hurtled to the ground.
And he ain’t gonna jump no more.
(CHORUS)
The days he’d lived and loved and laughed kept running through his mind,
He thought about the girl back home, the one he’d left behind;
He thought about the medics, and He wondered what they’d find,
And he ain’t gonna jump no more.
(CHORUS)
The ambulance was on the spot, the jeeps were running wild,
The medics jumped and screamed with glee, rolled up their sleeves and smiled,
For it had been a week or more since last a ‘chute had failed,
And he ain’t gonna jump no more.
(CHORUS)
He hit the ground, the sound was “SPLAT”, his blood went spurting high;
His comrades, they were heard to say “A HELL OF A WAY TO DIE!”
He lay there, rolling ‘round in the welter of his gore,
And he ain’t gonna jump no more.
(CHORUS)
(slowly, solemnly; about half the speed of the other verses)
There was blood upon the risers, there were brains upon the chute,
Intestines were a-dangling from his paratroopers suit,
He was a mess, they picked him up, and poured him from his boots,
And he ain’t gonna jump no more.