“I wanna do a song we just got together. This is a song called ‘All Man the Guns’ and it’s about a guy heading off to war… and he’s talking to his girl and saying ‘wait for me cause I’ll be back, you know, and everything will be fine.’ And they never do!'” –Bruce Springsteen, August 14, 1970
If there was ever an early Springsteen song that we don’t need an explanation for, it’s “We’ll All Man the Guns” (also known as “All Man the Guns”). Or do we?
“We’ll All Man the Guns” seems as straightforward as early Springsteen originals get. Set in the midst of the Vietnam War, Bruce’s narrator is a soldier facing the horrors of war and sustained by the thought of his love (Mary, of course–even at age 20, Bruce’s love interests were named Mary) waiting for him to return home.
There’s only one documented performance of “We’ll All Man the Guns,” and judging from Bruce’s introductory explanation, it might have been the very first time he’d played it.
Take a listen to that Steel Mill performance below. I know it’s a distant recording, but Bruce’s vocals (and even his patter with the band) are remarkably clear–there’s not a single line we can’t make out.
Bruce kind of spoils the song in the introduction, doesn’t he?
There’s never any indication in the song that Mary isn’t faithfully waiting for her soldier to return home, but Bruce’s cynical explanation (“And they never do!”) supported by a Greek chorus of jeers (and a snide “Dear John…”) imply that Bruce and the boys view their protagonist as naïve and foolish for believing his girl will wait for him.
And we’ll all man the guns for America
And we’ll all run the enemy home
And we’ll all man the guns for America
Just be there when I get home
Come to me Mary, oh I wanna know
If you still love me, like you told me so
Meet me by the river
Meet me in the field
Underneath that old oak tree
Oh won’t you say you will
When the rooster crows
And the train whistle blows
That’s when I’ll be gone
You see I got a job to do
My country is at war
But I’d fight the fiercest battle
And I’d cross the roughest land
If only I could be sure
I’d have my Mary’s hand
And we’ll all man the guns for America
And we’ll all run the enemy home
And we’ll all man the guns for America
The sooner it’s done
The sooner we’ve won
The sooner I’ll be home
In my dreams I hear the cannon
Thundering in the night
But sometimes I wake up screaming
I’ve soaked my bed in fright
We’ll tomorrow I’ll be leaving
And I might never come back again
You know I said that I will
I’m a God-fearing patriotic man
Won’t you meet me ‘neath that old oak tree
Fast as I can
You see I’ve got my duty to do
As a God-fearing patriotic man
But I’d fight the fiercest battle
And I’d walk the roughest land
If only I could be sure
I’d have Mary’s hand
And we’ll all man the guns for America
And we’ll all run the enemy home
And we’ll all man the guns for America
The sooner it’s done, the sooner we’ve won, the sooner I’ll get home
Still… it’s hard to hear those lyrics and not wonder if Bruce hadn’t also intended Mary to be a stand-in for America itself. Would the soldier’s country stand by him when he returned?
Bruce was exploring that theme long before “Born in the U.S.A.“, and his atypical pre-song glibness suggests perhaps a bit of misdirection.
But then again, the kid was only twenty years old, and sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Until and unless Bruce decides to talk about this lost early song (an unlikely prospect), we’ll just have to settle for speculation.
We’ll All Man the Guns
Never recorded
Never released
First performed: August 14, 1970 (Richmond, VA)
Last performed: August 14, 1970 (Richmond, VA)
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