The Rockets Red Glare: Songwriting & War
About writing, This Star-Spangled Life of Mine
This is about a song I wrote several years ago and a request for your help.
In 2011, I was listening to occasional Zoom calls with a mother and her son, a soldier in Baghdad. The Gulf War (redo) was a 8 years into its, “It’ll be over in a couple months” stage.
I was struck by the tone of these calls - which often included other soldiers who served with this mother’s son.
The conversations were an odd dichotomy of fear, pride, boredom, loneliness, camaraderie, and the glaring and obvious youth of the men and women serving in our military.
These are children becoming adults in a confusing and often damaging way.
On September 10th, 2011, I was driving out to coach my youngest child’s soccer team. She lived primarily with her mother, my first ex-wife1.
While on this drive, I wrote the entire lyrics for this song2. I recall getting to the soccer fields and showing the lyrics to my daughter. She nodded excitedly that she liked them.
We played our game and then drove home. She asked me if I had music to go with the lyrics. I explained that I had a musical idea but since I’d written the lyrics during the drive, I had not yet touched a guitar.
We got home and my daughter said, “Write the music, Dad.”
Two or three hours later, the song was done.
For me, the goal was to catch those dichotomies. I was not looking to write another jingoistic take on how we can kick everyone’s ass. War does not strike me as a celebratory event and I will avoid conversation about how millionaire “businessmen" make money sending our youth (and the youth of other countries) to war…. Trickle-down Deathonomics. (some end up with bank accounts, others end with scars)
I may discuss my thoughts on that problem at a later time. Having spent many hours at the West LA VA Medical Center and some of their Veteran’s Housing, speaking to broken men and women, it’s a conversation worth having.
For now, let’s focus on those who are thrown into that untenable situation..
Here is an unfinished studio recording of the song. Below that, the lyrics. And below that, a request for help.
THIS STAR-SPANGLED LIFE OF MINE © 2011 - Matthew Moran verse: Boots on the ground. Dust in the air Sometimes I wake up at night and think what the hell am I doing here But day after day, I toe the line Dreaming about that girl back home, my family, and those friends of mine chorus: Some days I’m lonely, some days I’m scared Most days I’m just bored out of my mind I’ve seen the red glare of rockets, bombs bursting in air I pray that proof will see me through the night I’m not trying to be a hero. I’m only trying to survive This Star-Spangled Life of Mine verse: My buddies John and Del, both served their time One is pushing paper down in New Orleans, one is pushing up daisies in Birmingham And I promised them I’d visit. It’s what I hope to do. A promise born of selfishness, I pray to God I make it through bridge: This is for the ones who never make it home This is for the ones that do, but leave something of themselves behind This is for the prayers of those who wait for the return The fear, the pride, the worry, and the love. ###
I proud of the lyrics. I feel as though the captured what I hoped to and appropriately focused on the soldier and their families. It is not a political statement… don’t take it as such.
It could apply to a soldier anywhere - again, often youth thrown into untenable situations. I hope you found in both thought-provoking and entertaining.
Performing the song
My band, Arrogant Sage (where the title of this substack originated), is on hiatus - which is to say, two members moved out of state, and time has not permitted me to restructure another band.
However, I have a few musicians who are interested in performing. It is something that Emiko and I have spoken of as well.
Additionally, we’d love to either re-record or finish the recording on this project.
A few years ago we had been booked to play an event at Edward’s Airforce Base for military families. That event ended up being cancelled. Two years later when the event was re-initiated, my band was not performing.
I performed the song just before the pandemic for a group of about 30 vets. The vets ranged from one WWII vet, a few from Korea, Vietnam, and several from Iraq. Several of the vets approached me afterward - a few with tears in their eyes - expressing their gratitude that I “understood” how things were for them.
Mind you, I don’t really understand. I’ve never been the war or anywhere near a war zone. I have a pretty cushy existence. Most of us in the US do.
But I appreciated that the song had resonated with them. That is the hope of any songwriter.
How you can help
So… a few things I’d love to get help with.
Performance opportunities
Outreach to Military Organizations and those who support soldiers and families
Other ideas
If you know of someone I can put the song in front of, perhaps get support (monetarily) to re-record it in the studio, organizations and events that might be interested in having the song performed live, or any other ideas to give the song legs and reach, I would love to hear from you.
You can reach me via my contact form.
Thank you again for joining me on this journey.
Matthew Moran
June 7, 2023
PS: I’m performing at Rib Ranch BBQ in Woodland Hills on Sunday, June 18th. (Father’s Day). The Facebook Event is here.
When you have to number your ex-wives, there are issues.
I do not recommend songwriting while driving but long drives through the desert have resulted in many songs for me. I could do a series on songs written while driving. Between Phoenix & Los Angeles. Between Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles, and even between South Pasadena and Santa Clarita.
For this song, the drive was Newbury Park, CA to Palmdale, CA.
If I think of any ways in which you may publicize, disseminate or draw attention to your song. I will let you know. But I am no expert in social media marketing.
Your song made me think of how Americans view war, now and then, in the bad old days when military service was much more common
Nowadays, most Americans -- as you rightfully pointed out -- have no relationship with the military. Most people do not serve. Most people do not know anyone who serves. In the rarified and snobbish suburbs of New York City, military service is as rare as smallpox. Because they don't serve, they think of soldiers simply as brave men who defend our "freedom." (Of course, Trump said that he thought soldiers were suckers.)
Warfare is lionizied, idealized, romanticized.
During World War Two, an enormous proportion of the country was in uniform. I have read mahy differnt figures, from as low as 10 million Americans in the uniform of the military to as high as 20 million. And most of those people had a Mother or Father or Sister or Lover in civies.
And in those days, when military service was ubiquitous, war was hated with a vengeance. First, the old adage, those who can't do teach, seemed apt for war. Military men were often thought of as slow-witted. Consider the French generals on the eve of World War Two: They were enamored of the cavalry. While those French generals admired their horses, the Germans were poised to terrorize them with stuka dive bombers, messershmidts and panzer divisions. Since world war one was characterized by trench warfare, the French built the Mother of all trenches, the Maginot Line. The germans just went around it, going through the Ardennes forest, which the French thought was impassable even though Germany breached that forest in 1870 as had Julius Caesar.
Also, war results in the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians. In November 1967, Robert Kennedy said, on either "Face the Nation" or "Meet the Press," that the American military killled 1000 civilians per week in South Vietnam alone. (This doesn' t count the civiilians we killed by bombing North Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.)
Also, war is characterized by tons of Friendly Fire.
There is an excellent movie about Vets, that came out in 1945 or 1946, entitled "The Best Years of Our Lives." (One of the actors was a real life American Veteran who had lost his hands fighting the Japanese). Another veteran in the film, doesn't want to wear his uniform and has to rebuke his wife who insists that he don the apparel of war.