Far Afghanistan lyrics

Back home Indiana, we just learn to get along

Civilized and socialized they teach you right from wrong

How to hold your liquor and how to hold your tongue

How to hold a woman or a baby or a gun

But nothing will prepare you for the far Afghanistan

You can listen to their stories and pick up what you can

You listen to their stories, maybe read a book or two

Until they send you out there, man you haven’t got a clue

Oh the Hindu Kush1, the Band-e Amir2, the Hazara3

They tell you a tradition in the hills of Kandahar4

They say young boys are taken to the wilderness out there

Taken to the mountain alone and in the night

If he makes it home alive they teach him how to fight

They fought against the Russians5, they fought against the Brits6

Hell, they fought old Alexander7, talking ‘bout him ever since

And after 9/11 here comes your Uncle Sam

Another painful lesson in the far Afghanistan

I was ready to be terrified and ready to be mad

I was ready to be homesick, the worst I’ve ever had

I expected to be hated and insulted to my face

But nothing could prepare me for the beauty of the place

No matter what they tell you all soldiers talk to God

It’s a private conversation written in your blood

The enemy’s no different, badass holy wind

That crazy bastard talks to God and his God talks back to him

1. An 800-kilometre-long (500 mi) mountain range that stretches near the Afghan-Pakistan border2. Afghanistan's first national park3. A Persian-speaking people who mainly live in central Afghanistan, Hazara Town in Balochistan, Pakistan, and Karachi4. The second-largest city in Afghanistan, also known as Qandahar and Candahar5. The Soviet–Afghan War lasted over nine years, from December 1979 to February 19896. There have been, as of 2017, four wars against Brittish and Afghan forces7. Alexander the Great was one of the many people who invaded Afghan land

• Artist:James Taylor
• Album:Before This World (2015)