8th Of November
BIG & RICH Lyrics

Said goodbye to his momma as he left South Dakota
The young soldier left his home state of South Dakota to serve his country, knowing that there was a chance he might not come back

To fight for the red, white and blue
He went to war to fight for the United States of America and its symbols of freedom

He was nineteen and green with a new M-16
He was young and inexperienced, with little training, but had been given a new weapon (an M-16 rifle) to fight with

Just doing what he had to do
He was following orders and doing what he thought was required of him as a soldier

He was dropped in the jungle where the choppers would rumble
He was inserted into the jungle via helicopter where the sound of the chopper's blades added to the chaos and confusion of the situation

With the smell of napalm in the air
The air was filled with the acrid, unpleasant smell of burning gasoline that is commonly associated with war

And the sergeant said look up ahead
The commanding officer, the sergeant, gave instructions to the soldier to pay attention to the area ahead of them

Like a dark evil cloud
A group of enemy soldiers approached like a foreboding and ominous presence

Twelve-hundred came down on him and twenty-nine more
Over a thousand enemy soldiers descended on the soldier and his fellow servicemen, and only a small fraction of the unit survived the ensuing fight

They fought for their lives but most of them died
The unit battled fiercely to try and survive, but tragically, many of them did not make it home alive

In the one-seventythird Airborne
The soldier was a member of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, an elite unit within the US Army

On the eighth of November the angels were crying
The day the unit fought and suffered heavy losses, November 8th, was a tragic day that brought tears to the eyes of even angels looking down from above

As they carried his brothers away
The soldiers who perished in the fight were carried away, their bodies probably loaded onto stretchers or vehicles

With the fire raining down and the hell all around
The battlefield was one of intense and overwhelming destruction, with bullets, artillery, and explosive devices raining down on the soldiers in a scene that can only be described as hellish

There were few men left standing that day
A small number of soldiers survived the brutal fighting of that day

Saw the eagle fly through a clear blue sky
A symbol of the United States, the eagle, was witnessed soaring across a clear blue sky on November 8th, 1965

1965, the eighth of November
Providing context for the story, this line states the year and date when the events of the song took place

Now he's fifty-eight and his pony tail's gray
The veteran is now older, middle-aged and the long hair he sports is a sign of his past rebelliousness

But the battle still plays in his head
Even years later, the memories of the violent conflict still haunt the soldier

He limps when he walks but he's strong when he talks
The soldier has a physical disability, most likely due to an injury sustained during his time in combat, but he is still strong in his conviction when he speaks

About the shrapnel they left in his leg
The soldier carries a piece of metal in his leg, a painful reminder of the wounding he suffered in battle

He puts on a gray suit over his Airborne tattoo
The veteran wears formal clothing to show his respect and mourn for the fallen. He covers his airborne unit tattoo on this occasion

And he ties it on one time a year
He wears the gray suit only once a year as he remembers the soldiers who died that day, paying his respects to their sacrifice by honoring them in this ritualistic manner

And remembers the fallen as he orders a tall one
The veteran drinks a large alcoholic beverage and honors his fallen comrades, a way of saluting and remembering them

And swallows it down with his tears
The veteran is emotional and drinks to take the edge off the overwhelming sadness he feels at the loss of his comrades and of a time in his life that was full of danger and struggle

The eighth of November (eighth of November)
Repeated for emphasis, the song's title, the date of November 8th, continues to symbolize the tragic loss and sacrifice of the unit with the repetition