The Grave
Don McLean * Track #9 On American Pie
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The Grave by Don McLean
Release Date
Performed by
Don McLeanProduced by
Ed FreemanWrited by
Don McLeanAbout
The ninth track of Don McLean’s seminal album, this song tells the story of a Marine, possibly from the Second World War or Vietnam, who finds his company massacred and dies himself, burying himself within his own trench.
The Grave Lyrics
The grave that they dug him had flowers
Gathered from the hillsides in bright summer colours
And the brown earth bleached white at the edge of his gravestone
He's gone
When the wars of our nation did beckon
A man barely twenty did answer the calling
Proud of the trust that he placed in our nation
He's gone
But Eternity knows him, and it knows what we've done
And the rain fell like pearls on the leaves of the flowers
Leaving brown, muddy clay where the earth had been dry
And deep in the trench he waited for hours
As he held to his rifle and prayed not to die
But the silence of night was shattered by fire
As guns and grenades blasted sharp through the air
And one after another his comrades were slaughtered
In a morgue of Marines, alone standing there
He crouched ever lower, ever lower with fear
"They can't let me die! They can't let me die here!
I'll cover myself with the mud and the earth
I'll cover myself! I know I'm not brave!
The earth! the earth! the earth is my grave."
The grave that they dug him had flowers
Gathered from the hillsides in bright summer colours
And the brown earth bleached white at the edge of his gravestone
He's gone
The Grave Q&A
Who wrote The Grave's ?
The Grave was written by Don McLean.
Who produced The Grave's ?
The Grave was produced by Ed Freeman.
When did Don McLean release The Grave?
Don McLean released The Grave on Sun Oct 24 1971.