Mosin-Nagant

Lyrics

[Intro]

[Verse 1]
I was born in 1891, under a double-headed eagle.
They carved my stock from birch and told me I would serve the Tsar.
I am 8.8 pounds of crude arithmetic,
Built so simple that a frozen hand could work me in the dark.
I watched the snow turn black in Leningrad.
I watched the jungles burn in a dozen different wars.
I thought, eventually, they would invent a better machine,
And leave me to the rust behind the armory doors.

[Chorus]
But I am too cheap to die.
I am too stubborn to retire.
Whenever the world runs out of money and time,
They reach into the grease and pull me from the fire.
I am the ghost of the trenches, still haunting the sand,
My only fear is the next trembling hand.
Will they ever let me sleep?

[Verse 2]
The newer ones are plastic, they are light and they are clean.
They click together like a puzzle, they fire in a blur.
But my bolt sticks when the chamber gets too hot,
And my steel buttplate leaves a bruise to remind you who we were.
Your shoulder learns to brace before your eye aligns the sight,
The body making room for a century of grief.
I have been dropped in the mud by great-grandfathers,
And picked up by boys who still believe in relief.

[Chorus]
But I am too cheap to die.
I am too stubborn to retire.
Whenever the world runs out of money and time,
They reach into the grease and pull me from the fire.
I am the ghost of the trenches, still haunting the sand,
My only fear is the next trembling hand.
Will they ever let me sleep?

[Bridge]
Cosmoline and canvas, I am waiting in a crate.
Somewhere the map is changing, somewhere the border breaks.
They pry the wooden lid off. The sunlight hits the steel.
Not the quiet display case. Not the furnace wheel.
Just another war.

[Outro]
A hundred years.
A hundred and thirty.
They never lose my caliber.
They never close the door.
I am so tired of being useful.
Just give me to the earth.