Mighty Mighty Bosstones Tin Soldiers lyrics

He turned up to get a job
To show he wasn't scared
All wrapped up in that army crap
He thought he'd be prepared

Well, at the age of seventeen
He was forced to choose
Now at the age of twenty-one
He's in catch twenty-two

He turned up for just three years
It seemed a small amount
But what they didn't tell him was
The first two didn't count

At the age of seventeen
How was he to know?
That at the age of twenty-one
He'd still have more to go?

Tin soldier, he signed away his name
Tin soldier, no chance of casual fame
Tin soldier, well, now he knows the truth
Tin soldier, he signed away his youth

He turned up, to start out right
To do right by his son
Well, now he waits and he counts the days
That mark time since day one


At the age of seventeen
He did what he was told
Now at the age of twenty-one
There's still one-third to go

Tin soldier, he signed away his name
Tin soldier, no chance of casual fame
Tin soldier, well, now he knows the truth
Tin soldier, he signed away his youth

At the age of seventeen he fall in line to
Now at the age of twenty-one, he still marches to
One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four
One, two, three, four, one, two, three, go

Tin soldier, he signed away his name
Tin soldier, no chance of casual fame
Tin soldier, well, now he knows the truth
Tin soldier, he signed away his youth

Tin soldier, what is he fighting for?
Tin soldier, to win a fucking war?
Tin soldier, tin soldier, yeah

Signed away his name
Signed away his name