The Songs of River Road

Fallen Eagle (The Ballad of Tommy Prince)

River Road, Track 7 - 2:36
T Longbottom / G Pruden / D Koulack

Tommy Prince, a true Canadian hero, is all but forgotten in the land of his forefathers. Why?

Tommy Prince was the son of chiefs he grew up in a land
Where the railroad passed the rundown shacks of a little Saulteaux band  
He dreamed the same dream every night he watched an eagle fly
'Til it disappeared in the dying light of an endless blood-red sky
   
Chorus 
Where has all the glory gone
The hearts that sang the eyes that shone
The memories of songs half-sung
Still come to you in dreams

Where have all the heroes gone
Broken now that once were young
The restless dead still haunt your nights
And call to you in dreams  
   
The little reservation seems a million miles away
From the battlefields where Tommy Prince once earned a soldier's pay 
He came back home a hero with medals on his chest
And some say that of all of them Tommy was the best
   
Tommy Prince was a hero decorated by the king
But when his wars were over he found it didn't mean a thing
Yeah Tommy  was a soldier he gave the war his all
He won his wings in battle but eagles sometimes fall 	

Old and tired in a main street bar he fought his final war
Till Tommy finally found the peace that he was looking for
Yeah he came back home a hero but what are heroes for
Another broken promise another casualty of war