There are probably some of you who will say Frank Marino is not metal. There are even likely to be those among you who don't even know who he is. To the latter I say Frank is or was one of Canada's premier guitar gods, comapred to Hendrix so much that some accused him of being a clone of the great man. To the former I say listen to his albums and then make that claim, either the ones with his band Mahogany Rush or his later solo efforts, or indeed his work in the mid-seventies with April Wine.
I'm no real aficionado of the man, to be honest. The two tracks reviewed on the recent “Killer Watts” piece and one solo album is all I know of him, but that 1982 album gave me a nugget of excellence to hold onto, and even now, over thirty years later, this still crops up as one of my alltime favourite songs, and certainly one of my favourite anti-war anthems.
“Stories of a hero” (Frank Marino) 1982, from the lbum "Juggernaut"
Music and lyrics by Frank Marino
The song treats the onset of war as something to be feared in the case of the wife of the main protagonist, the hero in the title, and something to be excited about and yet a little apprehensive by the man himself. Although we're not told what war he is fighting in, it's obviously a relatively recent one, as the lines
”She stands alone on the platform looking sad” attest to --- we're not talking ancient times here. Probably World War I or II, and given that Frank's Canadian probably not Vietnam, though I guess it could be. A modern war anyway. Of course, I suppose it doesn't have to be a war involving Canada just because he's a native, but you'd imagine if he wants to make a point it would be concerning a war his country was involved in.
In the end, it's probably immaterial. War is hell, no matter who fights it, how it's fought or when it takes place, and that is the central theme of this song. Focussing less on the war itself and more on the personal impact on the couple, it tells the story of how the young man is called up for service ---
”The time has come/ Said the young man/ To his bride/ My train waits outside” --- and his wife's fear that he may not return. It's a ballad, but with a very strong guitar motif running through it and a hell of a powerful solo to end it into fade. But as ever on this section it's the lyric we're concerned with here.
We see the man take leave of his wife (we get the feeling, or I do anyway, though it may not be the case, that they are only recently married) and head off to the war. Though he is scared, and sorry to have to leave her, he assures her he will be back, but underneath it all there is a sense of excitement about this new adventure, as if he's looking forward to proving himself.
”Gonna be a big hero/ In his hometown” is what he hopes will happen. Sadly for him, yes this is what the end result is but he will not be around to bask in that glory. I also like the way Frank presages the young man's fate by changing one line in the chorus, from
Soldier's gone to war/ Told her he's coming home” to
”Soldier's gone to war/ Don't know it but he/ Ain't comin' home no more.”
What I love about this song, and what really makes it stand out for me, is that the war is treated almost as an incidental. Nothing is mentioned of the young man's bravery, the presumably heroic feat that costs him his life. It's not important, certainly not to the woman he leaves behind as she receives the news of his death. Again, cleverly, nothing is said of how he died --- or even if he died, but you can make the very obvious inference when Frank sings
”The paper falls to the ground from her trembling hand/ The words they burn to her soul” Yeah, her man is not coming back home. Ever. Whereas in a somewhat similar vein, and a totally different genre, Paper Lace sang about the eponymous hero in “Billy don't be a hero” and described his act or courage/foolishness, here Frank completely glosses over what it was that got the young man killed. The cold hard fact is he is dead, and his wife is on her own in the world.
”World's gone so cold.”
The song then ends on an angry tirade against the futility of war, and how it can be and often is glamourised.
”The stories tell of bravery/ He was golden as the sun” It's also ironic, as he points out via the lyric, that men only become heroes if they die in war, not just if they take part in it. The soldier here will be remembered as a hero, but only because he fell in battle. Had he survived and returned to his wife, nobody would really remember him or mark him out as special. Yeah, death has that way of enshrining a hero in the memory, and a dead hero is always afforded more respect than a live one.
A fine, underrated song that makes its point in a very personal and understated way, and yet cuts to the heart of the matter, that bravery is useless when it gets you killed, and what after all are you really dying for?
(Unfortunately, the studio version seems to have disappeared from YouTube so you'll have to have a live version, slightly longer than the original)
”The time has come
Said a young man to his bride:
My train waits outside.
And though I leave
You know I'll keep you by my side;
She holds on a final time.
Soldier's gone to war,
Told her he's comin' home.
Soldier's gone to war
He's gonna be a hero in his hometown, lord.
She stands alone
On the platform lookin' sad
He waves through a pane of glass;
And though she hopes
He will be comin' home at last
Her heart knows what's gonna pass.
Soldier's gone to war,
Don't know it, but he ain't comin' home no more.
Soldier's gone to war
He's gonna be known as a hero in his hometown, lord.
Soldier's gone to war
Told her he's comin' home
Soldier has gone to war
He's gonna be known as a hero in his hometown, lord
The paper falls to the floor from a trembling hand;
The words they burn to the soul.
And though she cries, she doesn't really understand
The world's gone so cold.
Soldier went to war,
Told her he'd be comin' home.
Soldier went to war:
Gonna be a big hero in his hometown, lord.
And the stories tell of bravery, yeah:
He was golden as the sun.
Well he fought for you and he fought for me, yeah
And he died for everyone/
Stories of a hero.
Glories of a hero.
Well it seems as though the world ain't changed:
It goes on and on for years.
When men must die to be called brave
To earn respect among their peers.
Stories of a hero.
Glories of a hero.”