Warriors Of The Sun

Lyrics: Joan Baez
Music: Joan Baez

Played by Joan Baez as a guest with the Grateful Dead in December 1981.

We are the warriors of the sun
Fighting post-war battles that somehow never got won
It may be crazy and it may be our final run
We are the warriors of the sun

Say we feed the hungry and we tend to the sick
Say that we're always around when the going gets thick
Say we'll carry your feeble and your weary ones
Say we are the warriors of the sun

The black angel of Memphis is by our side
He left us precious memories just before he died
He said, "It ain't what you can do for me, ah, but what can I do for thee?"
And the Lord came down and he set that warrior free

The ghetto by any other name still remains the same
Now more than ever survival is the name of the game
Prove that you're truly needy by eating dinner from a dog food can
One of these days, the apple's gonna hit the fan

New York guardian angels, you all right?
No one's gonna violate granny on the subway tonight
You smile at the child and then you buried your gun
Another couple of hundred warriors of the sun

We see a light shing bright under [fallen] skies
Organise union nights, compromise, bust a rise
You step right up to the [monorail?]
You say this [car's?] gotta run
Another couple of hundred thousand warriors of the sun

For the women and the children and the daughters it's a hell of a fight
Like a medieval battle being fought at the dead of night
Not just for the [parents], we were red and roses too
We're first class citizen warriors, same as you

Everybody knows that the whale is smarter than we
That's why they're trying to kill off the king of the sea
They were here before us, why don't we just let the fishes be
Some of us are Greenpeace Warriors of the Sea

Pot-bellied babies with flies all around their eyes
Holding out cans for care under scorching skies
Every mother's baby has got a right to have some fun
Not end up tiny bleached bones in the desert sun

We are the warriors of the sun
Fighting post-war battles that somehow never got won
We may be crazy or it may be our final run
We are the warriors of the sun
We are the warriors of the sun
We are the warriors of the sun

We are the warriors of the sun
Fighting post-war battles that somehow never got won
It may be crazy or it may be our final run
We are the warriors of the sun

Say we feed the hungry and we tend to the sick
Say that we're always around when the going gets thick
Say we'll carry off the feeble and your weary ones
Say we are the warriors of the sun

It's true about no more water but the fire next time
Will the children of the eighties be ashes or discover their prime
We don't heed the Nobel laureate warning 'bout things to come
Or the incinerated warriors of the sun

New York guardian angels, you all right?
No one's gonna violate Ronnie on the subway tonight
Smile as a child and then you buried your gun
Another couple of thousand warriors of the sun

In the ghetto by any other name she remains the same
Now more than ever survival is the name of the game
Prove that you're truly needy by eating dinner from a dog food can
One of these days, the apple's gonna hit the fan

We are the warriors of the sun
Fighting post-war battles that somehow never got won
It may be crazy or it may be our final run
We are the warriors of the sun
We are the warriors of the sun
We are the warriors of the sun

We are the Warriors of the Sun
We are the Warriors of the Sun

If it's true about no more water but the fire next time
Will the children of the eighties be ashes or live to their prime
If we don't heed reasonable people and their warnings of days to come
We'll all be incinerated Warriors of the Sun

We'll be there to feed the hungry and to tend to the sick
We'll be there when the night gets black and the going gets thick
We'll be there to carry your feeble, your hopeless and your weary ones
We are the Warriors of the Sun

The black angel of Memphis is by our side
He walked and he talked in truth until the day that he died
He said, "It ain't what you can do for me, ah, but what can I do for thee?"
And he took us to the mountaintop and he set us free

We are the Warriors of the Sun
We may be crazy
And it may be our final run
We are the Warriors of the Sun

Everybody knows that the whale is smarter than we
Probably that's why we call him the king of the sea
We're killing everything on dry land, why don't we just let the fishes be
Some of us are Greenpeace Warriors of the Sea

We are the Warriors of the Sun
We are the Warriors of the Sun
We are the Warriors of the Sun
We are the Warriors of the Sun