Last Stand - Harry Chapin

It used to be that old John Wayne

Would fight the good fight once again

Find the strength to bear the pain

Stand up til he’d finally fall

But now it’s not just movie time

And now it’s you that’s on the line

And now it’s you that’s going to find

If you can stand at all

So you circle all the wagons

And you hide behind the trees

And you try to find some courage on your knees

When you heard the sound of taps played

By the one man band

You knew this is where you’d have to make

Your last stand

And so, my friends, the last stand

The last song from the last band

The last note from the last man

But you gave it all you can

The cards came down to the last deal

You’re a starving man at his last meal

And the movie’s rolled down to the last real

It’s got an ending you never planned

She’s left you now, and so it seems

You’ve tumbled down the last stream

And you’ve found out that the final dream

Can disappear so fast

Watch it all just fade away, boy

It came down to the last day

And then the last out, and then the last play

And you’re alone at last

So you circle all the wagons

And you hide behind the trees

And you try to find some courage on your knees

When you heard the sound of taps played

By the one man band

You knew this is where you’d have to make

Your last stand

Well, so it was late last night

She left on the final flight

You watched as the last light

Went out there in your soul

Took your look around the top

For now you face the final drop

You’ll go down fast and you won’t stop

You found a very deep hole

Say you’re off on the last ride

Remembering how she last cried

And you know that love had long last died

In silence, not in pain

You lost your last, your last race

Stumbled in at last place

Too late to find the one last face

Waiting in the rain

So you circle all the wagons

And you hide behind the trees

And you try to find some courage on your knees

When you heard the sound of taps played

By the one man band

You knew this is where you’d have to make

Your last stand