From the recording Love Through a Prism

Lyrics

The Tin Soldier
Drew James© 2008
 
The blue ribbon fell from the box
That was wrapped at the toymaker’s shop
At silent attention within
Were toy soldiers made of tin
 
The tin that the toymaker bought
Came up just a little bit short
So one soldier in the platoon
Had one leg instead of two
 
A tin tear fell from the soldier’s eye
When he realized
He could never march in the parade
 
When the other soldiers left him behind
Something caught the tin soldier’s eye
There by a little glass lake
A ballerina danced on one leg
 
The tine solider he never knew
That her other leg was just out of view
She raised it so high off the floor
It was hidden by the skirt she wore
 
Tin tears of pain turned to tin tears of joy
When that soldier toy
Fell in love with the dancing doll
 
And he dreamed in his mind
Of a day they might be man and wife
For if in his arms she could be
Their two legs would make them complete
 
A little boy reached into the box
For the one legged soldier he got
Then he climbed high atop of his bed
And placed the soldier on a tall window ledge
 
A brisk wind rose up from the south
And blew the tin soldier out
He fell through the cold winter breeze
And landed head first in the street
 
Tin tears of joy turned to tin tears of pain
As it began to rain
He thought of his dancing doll
 
As the soldier lay there drenched by the storm
Two boys happened along
One looked down on the ground
And said, ”Hey, look what I found!”
 
They fashioned a newspaper boat
To see if the soldier would float
But the gutter was a-rage with the rain
And washed the little boat down the drain
 
Tin tears of pain turned to tin tears of joy
As that soldier toy
Said,”I’m off to see the world!”
 
And he dreamed in his mind
As he rode down through the pipes
“A pirate of the sewer I will be
With a matchstick strung to my knee”
 
The pipe led to the ocean so deep
Where the little boat began to sink
When the soldier hit the bottom below
A big fish swallowed him whole
 
The big fish swam far out to sea
As the soldier cried,”Oh, woe is me
For I can never see the world and its sights
In this fish belly dark as the night”
 
Tin tears of joy turned to tin tears of pain
For his love was in vain
With his ballerina so far away
 
The fisherman yelled, “That one is mine!”
As he pulled the big fish in on his line
Then he sold it to a man in the town
Who took it home to batter and brown
 
The man gave the fish to his wife
Who opened it up with a knife
When light reached the tin soldiers glance
He saw the room where his adventure had began
 
Tin tears of pain turned to tin tears of joy
When that soldier toy
Saw his ballerina dancing by the lake
 
And he dreamed in his mind
Of a day they might be man and wife
For if in his arms she could be
Their two legs would make them complete
 
The little boy who'd opened the box
Pulled the soldier from the fish’s gut
Then he cried “He’s all smelly and stained”
And threw the soldier out the window again
 
A sequin tear fell from the ballerina’s eye
When she realized
She may never see her soldier again
 
She still dreams in her mind
Of a day they might be man and wife
For if in her arms he could be
Their two hearts would make them complete