Last to Die

Track 9 on Magic

Producer

The ninth song on the Magic album, “Last to Die” is befittingly placed between the song “Magic,” which highlights the theme of deception, and “Long Walk Home” which is… Read More

Sep. 25, 20071 viewer

Last to Die Lyrics

[Verse 1]
We took the highway till the road went black
We marked 'Truth Or Consequences' on our map
A voice drifted up from the radio
We saw the voice from long ago

[Chorus]
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake

[Verse 2]
The kids asleep in the backseat
We're just counting the miles you and me
We don't measure the blood we've drawn anymore
We just stack the bodies outside the door

[Chorus]
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake

[Bridge]
The wise men were all fools
What to do

See Bruce Springsteen Live

Get tickets as low as $25

[Verse 3]
The sun sets in flames as the city burns
Another day gone down as the night turns
And I hold you here in my heart
As things fall apart

[Verse 4]
A downtown window flushed with light
Faces of the dead at five (faces of the dead at five)
A martyr's silent eyes
Petition the drivers as we pass by

[Chorus]
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who'll be the last to die

Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Darling your tyrants and kings form the same fate
Strung up at your city gates
And you're the last to die for a mistake

Embed

About

The ninth song on the Magic album, “Last to Die” is befittingly placed between the song “Magic,” which highlights the theme of deception, and “Long Walk Home” which is about redemption.

“Last to Die” receives its title from a line by Senator John Kerry regarding the Vietnam War and Springsteen possibly did this to indicate how the United States was making the same error it did in Vietnam.

How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?
- John Kerry, April 1971

“Last to Die” is sung from a soldier’s perspective, much like “Further On (Up The Road)” in Springsteen’s previous album, The Rising. However, while the song from The Rising focuses inwardly on the soldier himself, “Last to Die” focuses on the events of the war itself and the chaos it brought to another country.