Song from the US Airborne, dating back to World War II.
He was just a
rookie trooper and he surely
shook with fright
He
checked all his
equipment and made sure his
pack was
tight;
He had to sit and
listen to those
awful engines roar,
"YOU AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE!"
(CHORUS)
GORY. GORY, WHAT A HELLUVA WAY TO DIE,
GORY. GORY, WHAT A HELLUVA WAY TO DIE,
GORY. GORY, WHAT A HELLUVA WAY TO DIE,
HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE!
"Is
everybody happy?" cried the
Sergeant looking up,
Our
Hero feebly answered "
Yes," and then they stood him up;
He jumped into the icy
blast, his
static line unhooked,
AND HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE.
(CHORUS)
He counted
long, he counted
loud, he waited for the
shock,
He felt the
wind, he felt the
cold, he felt the
awful drop,
The
silk from his
reserve spilled out and wrapped around his legs,
AND HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE.
(CHORUS)
The risers swung around his
neck, connectors cracked his
dome,
Suspension lines were tied in
knots around his skinny
bones;
The
canopy became his
shroud; he hurtled to the
ground.
AND HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE.
(CHORUS)
The days he'd
lived and
loved and
laughed kept running through his mind,
He thought about the
girl back home, the one he'd left
behind;
He thought about the
medicos and
wondered what they'd find,
AND HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE.
(CHORUS)
The
ambulance was on the spot, the
jeeps were running
wild,
The
medics jumped and
screamed with
glee, rolled up their
sleeves and
smiled,
For it had been a
week or more since last a '
chute had failed,
AND HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE.
(CHORUS)
He
hit the ground, the sound was "
Splat," his
blood went
spurting high,
His
comrades then were heard to say: "A helluva way to die!"
He lay there
rolling round in the welter of his
gore,
AND HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE.
(CHORUS)
There was
blood upon the risers, there were
brains upon the
chute,
Intestines were a'dangling from his
Paratrooper suit,
He was a
mess; they picked him up, and poured him from his
boots,
AND HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE.
(CHORUS -- slowly, solemnly)
GORY. GORY, WHAT A HELLUVA WAY TO DIE,
GORY. GORY, WHAT A HELLUVA WAY TO DIE,
GORY. GORY, WHAT A HELLUVA WAY TO DIE,
HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE!