Colonel’s Blood, Sailor’s Oath

[Intro]  
(solo bugle)  
(slow marching snare cadence)

[Verse 1]  
Sixteen years ago I raised my hand  
Sea bag packed, a younger man  
Grandma cried while Grandpa stood  
Quiet like old soldiers would  

I swore someday I'd make him proud  
Come back home and talk out loud  
His war, my sea, two distant skies  
Two soldiers meeting eye to eye  

[Verse 2]  
Two long years before I came  
But the man I knew had slipped away  
Dementia took the words he knew  
Left shadows where his memory grew  

He walked up slow, didn't speak  
My daughter sleeping on my wife's shoulder  
My heart stopped hard beside those stairs  
Not sure what man was standing there  

He bent down soft, kissed her head  
Then turned away… no words were said  

(snare roll building, distant bugle)

[Chorus]  
I thought I'd stand there in my dress blues  
Raise my hand and honor you  
One last salute for the man I knew  
But time marches on like soldiers do  

A Colonel's blood in sailor's cloth  
Still chasing words we never got  

I owed you one last salute  
But life gave silence in its place  

[Verse 3]  
Family talking late that night  
About the only time he'd fight  
Someone slighting Grandma's name  
Or boys tearing through his vineyard lane  

Martini glass slipped from his hand  
As he ran them off his land  
That fire still burned somewhere inside  
Even when the rest had died  

That's when someone finally said  
“Your granddad served… a Colonel's thread.”  

[Bridge]  
(snare cadence building, low piano, distant bugle echo)

Snow was falling hard that night  
Driving through a blizzard white  
Phone rang cold against my ear  
Words I never hoped to hear  

Orders said keep moving on  
Leave was done, the moment gone  
No turning back, no final stand  
No salute from this sailor's hand  

(snare drum crescendo, full band swell)

[Final Chorus]  
I thought I'd stand there in my dress blues  
Raise my hand and honor you  
One last salute for the man I knew  
But time marches on like soldiers do  

A Colonel's blood and sailor's oath  
Different roads but honor both  

I owed you one last salute  
So I carry it the rest of my days  

[Outro]  
(distant bugle fading)  
(soft snare taps like a fading cadence)

Cinematic military alt rock, bugle and marching snare intro, emotional male vocal, slow build to powerful arena chorus