In tomorrow’s class at the community college, I am going to use Tom Waits‘ “Day After Tomorrow” as for discussion. I encouraged (more like assigned) my students to look for songs about social justice, politics, and/or current events to add to the conversation.
“Day After Tomorrow” is on Real Gone, which is an amazing album. And this song, while done as one of Waits’ touching ballads, beautifully condemns the Iraq war (or any other war for that matter) through the story of a young soldier:
I got your letter today
And I miss you all so much here
I can’t wait to see you all
And I’m counting the days dear
I still believe that there’s gold
At the end of the world
And I’ll come home
To Illinois
On the day after tomorrow It is so hard
And it’s cold here
And I’m tired of taking orders
And I miss old Rockford town
Up by the Wisconsin border
What I miss you won’t believe
Shoveling snow and raking leaves
And my plane will touch down
On the day after tomorrow
I close my eyes
Every night
And I dream that I can hold you
They fill us full of lies
Everyone buys
About what it means to be a soldier
I still don’t know how I’m supposed to feel
‘Bout all the blood that’s been spilled
Will God on this throne
Get me back home
On the day after tomorrow
You can’t deny
The other side
Don’t want to die
Any more than we do
What I’m trying to say,
Is don’t they pray
To the same God that we do?
Tell me how does God choose?
Whose prayers does he refuse?
Who turns the wheel
Who throws the dice
On the day after tomorrow
(Humming)
I’m not fighting for justice
I am not fighting for freedom
I am fighting for my life
And another day
In the world here
I just do what I’ve been told
We’re just the gravel on the road
And only the lucky one’s come home
On the day after tomorrow And the summer
It too will fade
And with it comes the winter’s frost, dear
And I know we too are made
Of all the things that we have lost here
I’ll be twenty-one today
I’ve been saving all my pay
And my plane will touch down
On the day after tomorrow.
Tags: politcal songs, Tom Waits
Neat song, nice words that ring hollow to me. The sum total of his military experience is described as a “brief interlude with the Coast Guard”.
I wore a uniform for 9 years, 4 months and 6 days. I’m a Gulf War I era veteran. I oppose war for most reasons. But this guy doesn’t speak for me.
Those who presume to know the soldier, sailor, marine or airman’s heart without ever having been one piss me off.
No love from me for Mr. Waits.
Perhaps Tom Waits’ sin as a writer here is to try to enter into another experience, which is what he often does in his songs. He is not the characters, but he does let them speak for themselves, as the young man does in this song. I do think Waits treats his character with a great deal of grace and compassion. Never does he condemn the man for being in the military or being deployed in the war.
There’s little room for the song to be misunderstood. Bruce Springsteen’s anthhem “Born in the USA” was misunderstood in the 1980′s and the right wing tried to co-opt while overlooking a great deal of its content (which were stories about Vietnam veterans). They only heard (and/or were only willing) to listen to the chorus. Like Waits, Springsteen never served in the military.
The story should be told. It should be told by a first hand witness, but sometimes the witness is unable to speak, and needs another to speak for them.
That’s my take on it.
Fair enough, Shinichi. In the spirit of fairness, I was never much of a fan of the Lee Greenwood pep rally song, “Proud to Be An American”. When I would hear him sing, “I would gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today…,” I’d always say to myself, “suit up or shut up.”
I guess I’m not really pissed off at Waits (or by extension of your comment, Springsteen), but I couldn’t see myself writing a song or story about the experience of being black, female or gay–artistic license notwithstanding. Perhaps I’m wrong in holding them to the same standard…imposing my values, I guess.
My $.02
You bring up a good point. Who’s story is it? On one hand, writers, poets, and musicians do have some obligation to tell the stories that must be told. On the other hand, are they qualfied to tell the stories?
I would say that Waits and Springsteen’s stories of the horrors of wars (which they have not experienced first hand) are better than none. A story like these could provide a soldier (who previously felt voiceless) to come forward and tell us what he or she had witnessed and experienced. Otherwise, some tweed-wearing historians and others in a position to alter our collective memories will write an inaccurate history.