One man feels so weak when he’s alone out in the cold;
he can’t tell if he’s young and strong, or if he’s getting old.
Rolls a stone across the ground, it’s rolling like a ball,
and if he had ten thousand, he could build himself a wall.
Daddy, you’re a kind man, but you can’t understand.
Me, I need an army, need ten thousand men.
You don’t got too much money, and you don’t got too much blood;
you’ve only got one cloak that you can lay across the mud.
Take your ears and listen to my reasons and my needs,
cause the sun will bring more fire than any single man can bleed.
Maybe you don’t like it, man, and maybe it feels rough,
but the angels are all waiting, and you can’t run fast enough.
Daddy, you’re a kind man, but you can’t understand.
Me, I need an army, need ten thousand men.
You will hear me coming; you will recognize my stride.
You’ll feel the bells start ringing, and the roads start getting wide.
You’ll cut your finger gently, and you’ll hold it up to me.
I’ll touch it to my heart, and then blood brothers we will be.
You’ll recognize my horse, and you will recognize my flag,
you’ll recognize the weapons that I stuffed into my bag.
Daddy, you’re a kind man, but you can’t understand.
Me, I need an army, need ten thousand men.
When the fire starts coming, man, remember what I said.
Fill your tea with iron nails, stuff nettles in your bed.
Wear a ring of hematite, put rubies in your ears,
peppers to your ladies, and then head out to the fields.
Daddy, you’re a kind man, but you can’t understand.
Me, I need an army, need ten thousand men.