The Apprentice

Words and Music by Alan Williams

(Recorded, Mixed, and Mastered by Mark Frethem, Doctor Digital, Portland, OR)

- Verse One -

A man rode out of Boston, a traitor to his King and Country

He brought with him a message: "stand up against the law!"

They were the finest army, no one had stood against their muskets

And they would surely parish before the coming of the dawn.

And we were not an Army, with fife and drum and discipline

But we had Kentucky rifles, who needed any more.

So we hid behind the bushes and shot them as they marched along.

And it wouldn't be the last time, we carried freedom too far.

- Verse Two -

And then a sovereign nation, for sixty solid years we stood.

No one would come to take us, too poor for our own good.

But Freedom's soul grew restless, the sting of battle almost gone.

So we fought amongst each other, while everyone looked on.

We tested out our egos and found our egos were our master.

And in the name of freedom, we carried freedom too far.

- Verse Three -
The rifleman meant nothing in the trenches of the modern battle,
We thought we'd have conflict to put an end to war.
So we sent to them our backbone, a freedom blood for generations.
And when the war had ended, we carried freedom too far..

- Verse Four -

The twenty years that followed found one extreme and then the other,

Another generation found another bloody war.

The war was fought with courage and weapons made for mass destruction.

In just one tiny atom, we carried freedom too far.

- Verse Five -

And now a generation, since battle tested freedom won.

We keep the peace with weapons or freedom would be gone.

And I am the apprentice in the ways and conduct of the battle,

The stock and trade of soldiers is what I've come to know.

And like the men before me, the call of freedom I will answer.

And like the men before me, I'll carry freedom too far.

Underneath a shroud of freedom, I'll carry freedom too far.