The Things We Carried

Ron DeChristoforo & Anthony DiFebbo - The Things We Carried
Philadelphia, PA
Inspired by Tim O’Brien's The Things They Carried

Listen to the Track:

Quote from the songwriter:
There are no easy judgments drawn from the timeless and painful complexity of war in Tim O'Brien's collection, The Things They Carried. There are no clear moral boundaries, no final explanation, no winners. Like the soldiers themselves, the story of war keeps going, carrying sadly on. In our song, The Things We Carried, we tried to capture the intense, dangerous, and impressionist life ringside at war, so beautifully, so horribly portrayed by O'Brien. How much can these boys take? They can take it all, but, of course, there’s a price to pay for that.

Lyrics to the song:
Village to village,
rolling up our weary bones,
buried alive,
down in a combat zone.

So wicked, so strange,
the nights keep catching fire.
So little remains,
confessors and bad liars.

The things we carried
are taking up a heavy load;
the weight of the world,
move it further on up the road.

Burn all her letters.
Do whatever you think you should.
She never loved you,
and you know she never would.

In this jungle of madness,
where darkness outlasts dawn,
fear all alone
weighs nothing, nothing at all.

The things we carried
are taking up a heavy load;
the weight of the world,
move it further on up the road.

© Ron DeChristoforo & Anthony DiFebbo