31

Lyrics

(Verse 1)
The summer heat was a heavy shroud
Across the Legation, the screams were loud
Fifty-five days in a brick-walled cage
While the Dragon’s fire began to rage.
My Krag-Jørgensen was running hot
I fired away every round I got
But the wall was breached and the gates gave way
In the choking smoke of a dying day.
​(Chorus)
Dust and smoke on the Peking wall
Heard that Boxer bugle call!
Outnumbered, son, a hundred to one
My bolt-action rifle was already done.
So I drew that steel, the blade so wide
With a Bowie knife, I fought with pride!
​(Verse 2)
They came in waves like a rising sea
With spears and spirits, and eyes on me.
No time to load, no room to breathe
Just the heavy iron I had to unsheathe.
Forged in the fire of a distant home
Far from the salt and the ocean foam
A foot of steel with a clipped-back spine
The only thing standing on the line.
​(Chorus)
FOR GLORY AND DUTY, IN THAT FAR-OFF LAND
TOOK A STAND WITH THIS BLADE IN MY HAND!
AGAINST THE TIDE, I FOUGHT WITH MY MIGHT
A DESPERATE MAN IN A HELLISH FIGHT!
A BOWIE KNIFE BLADE IN MY HAND
IN THAT FAR-OFF, BLOOD-SOAKED LAND!
​(Bridge)
(Tempo slows, heavy kick drum)
The sandbags fell, the timber cracked
There wasn’t a soul who wasn’t hacked
But that Arkansas toothpick found its mark
A silver flash in the dusty dark
From the Alamo to the Tartar Wall
A soldier stands or he’s gonna fall.
​(Guitar/Banjo Solo - High Energy)
​(Outro)
Yeah, the relief came marching through the gate
But the blade in my hand had decided fate.
A US Soldier, a bloody knife
In the Boxer's shadow, I kept my life.
(Fading out)
In the Peking dust...
With the Bowie steel...
Held the line...