Men in a war
If they've lost a limb
Still feel that limb
As they did before
He lay on a cot
He was drenched in a sweat
He was mute and staring
But feeling the thing
He had not
I know how it is
When something is gone
A piece of your eyesight
Or maybe your vision
A corner of sense
Goes blank on the screen
A piece of the scan
Gets filled in by hand
You know that it was
And now it is not
So you just make do with
Whatever you've got
Men in a war
If they've lost a limb
Still feel that limb
As they did before
If your nerve is cut
If you're kept on the stretch
You don't feel your will
You can't find your gut
And she lay on her back
She made sure she was hid
She was mute and staring
Not feeling the thing
That she did
I know how it is
When something is gone
A piece of your eyesight
Or maybe your vision
If they've lost a limb
Still feel that limb
As they did before
He lay on a cot
He was drenched in a sweat
He was mute and staring
But feeling the thing
He had not
I know how it is
When something is gone
A piece of your eyesight
Or maybe your vision
A corner of sense
Goes blank on the screen
A piece of the scan
Gets filled in by hand
You know that it was
And now it is not
So you just make do with
Whatever you've got
Men in a war
If they've lost a limb
Still feel that limb
As they did before
If your nerve is cut
If you're kept on the stretch
You don't feel your will
You can't find your gut
And she lay on her back
She made sure she was hid
She was mute and staring
Not feeling the thing
That she did
I know how it is
When something is gone
A piece of your eyesight
Or maybe your vision
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"Men in a War" is about missing a piece of yourself, whether it's a physical piece or a part of your will or spirit. I put the woman in the song because I wanted to show these two people in opposite circumstances, both of them feeling incomplete. The man is feeling something he doesn't have, and the woman is not feeling something she has."
"The Open Hand Book - Notes on her New Album", Musician, 1991, also published in Language and in the Limited Edition of 99.9F° (http://www.vega.net/handbook.htm) transcribed by Eric Szczerbinski
(da The Rusted Pipe Web Site)