Steve Earle - John Walker's Blues

Steve Earle wrote this song from the perspective of John Walker Lindh, an American born Roman Catholic who converted to Islam and went to fight for the Taliban. He is currently serving a 20 year sentence after his arrest in Afghanistan in 2001.

The chorus of the song comes from the Qur'an, 'I am a witness, there is no God but God.'

Powerful song.
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I'm just an American boy raised on MTV
And I've seen all those kids in the soda pop ads
But none of 'em looked like me
So I started lookin' around for a light out of the dim
And the first thing I heard that made sense was the word
Of Mohammed, peace be upon him

Chorus:
A shadu la ilaha illa Allah
There is no God but God

If my daddy could see me now chains around my feet
He don't understand that sometimes a man
Has got to fight for what he believes
And I believe God is great, all praise due to him
And if I should die, I'll rise up to the sky
Just like Jesus, peace be upon him

A shadu la ilaha illa Allah
There is no God but God

We came to fight the Jihad and our hearts were pure and strong
As death filled the air, we all offered up prayers
And prepared for our martyrdom
But Allah had some other plan, some secret not revealed
Now they're draggin' me back with my head in a sack
To the land of the infidel

A shadu la ilaha illa Allah
A shadu la ilaha illa Allah

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Steve
• Earle
• John
• Walker
• Lindh
• Blues

[jorgeimontoya]

Beutiful Song, Steve is brave

[TheVillageRake]

That he is. A rarity in American music nowdays. Thanks for commenting Jorgei.

[Patrick5009]

why is he bound like this. Barbaric. America needs to start treating prisoners of war as they would like there own captured soldiers to be treated.

[inelson1981]

Actually just started listening to him about 3-4 months ago. No, you are right I have not followed his career. I knew his politics were way more to the left than me. I will still like many of his other songs, but wont waste my money/time on this one!

[theholyfather1]

This song is ten years old, released in 2002. If you just lost respect for Steve you cannot have been following his career too well .

[inelson1981]

Wow, just lost respect for Steve. I love most his music. Sympathy for treason crosses the line with me.

[hurinSAthalion]

@TAXILA76 DISCLAIMER: I am none of the below. Merely trying to answer your question without commenting on the rightness/wrongness of anything.

[hurinSAthalion]

@TAXILA76 : I assume you are asking about the "rise up to the sky like Jesus, peace be upon him," line. Muslims believe that Jesus was a minor prophet of Allah/Jehovah/Yaweh/etc. Muslims, Jews, and Christians of all denominations believe in the same god--the god of Abraham. Where they fundamentally disagree is which prophet speaks the true intention of god (i.e. Jesus/New Testament or Mohammed/Q'uraan), or in the case of Jews, they believe that "The" prophet has not yet arrived.

[Goodspittin]

@DixieRebel772 You make a good point. But all jihad really means is "struggle". And we do treat prisoners with more respect than in the past. I'm training for deploying to Afghanistan and taking language classes. They stress the fact that half the people you fight aren't terrorist. Just people put between a rock and the muzzle of a gun. Being respectful goes a long way there.

[klaytonrocks]

@DixieRebel772 lol, I don't think anyone said anything about fighting a Jihad. Also, Allah is the arabic word for "God". And Allah, like the Christian god, has a connection to Abraham.

[DixieRebel772]

@klaytonrocks How? And my point wasn't about God, it was about Jihad, it wouldn't be a good move to try and fight a holy war right now.

[klaytonrocks]

@DixieRebel772 But they're the same, so the point really is moot.

[klaytonrocks]

@coy0te9 No, because OBVIOUSLY we're right and they're wrong, we're always the good guys and our enemies are the bad guys and 'MURKAS TH' GREATEST.

;)