The Story Is Everything - The Boy from New Orleans Lyrics

The Japs had hit the harbor and the Third Reich taken France
Freddie turned 16 at Warren Easton's High School Dance
A scrawny Boogie Bugle Boy just looking for a chance
To leave New Orleans
To a Marine recruiter Freddie lied about his age
Ready now to prove himself, ready now to rage
He found himself a-headed for the South Pacific Stage
A boy from New Orleans
Frightened in the foxhole, the air raid siren screamed
Fleeing through the jungle in the glare of searchlight beams
Freddie quickly found out that he knew just what it means
To miss New Orleans
Blue star in the window over on North Galvez Street
His mother bragged about her son to everyone she'd meet
States Item wrote a headline 'bout "A Vet at 17"
About the boy from New Orleans
Freddie flew reconnaissance with camera in hand
Freddie saw great horrors that would haunt him till the end
And there were days he thought he'd never make it home again
Home to New Orleans
Instead of riding street cars, a jungle jeep he used
And heard the roaring pound of surf instead of jazz and blues
And many nights he asked himself "Why did I ever choose
To leave New Orleans?"
He was of the lucky ones returned from foreign shore
Less than four years later at the tail end of the war
And found he never wanted to be anything more
Than just a boy from New Orleans