When we were soldiers

 Chalk and cheese were soldiers

When they went to war

Chalk went first into the fold

Cheese followed there after

They were inseparable

Brothers they were in arms

Oh, when we were Soldiers

When we were soldiers

When we were back on the farm

 

When the bombs fell in the East

Chalk went fighting the front

While Cheese fought foreign beast

Oh, but they had the same want

Keep me with my brother Cheese

Chalk said to Commander and master

But the commander set them East to West

And that was to be a disaster

 

Chalk was proud but never let on

He had loved the same woman

Back in their hometown

And Cheese was humbler and just

Kept his head down

In his heart he wanted Zita for his crown

 

And the days rubbed on

And the war did vanish

When they each returned home

The farmland was famished

Zita held them both in her arms

And they knew they were back on the farm

 

Oh, when we were soldiers,

What a time we had

Dashing headlong into the fray

When we were soldiers

All time stood still

We could never quite believe

We'd see this day

 

And Zita loved Cheese

But she loved Chalk still

Oh, and when the sparks flew

She thought of herself to kill

But Cheese married her

In that Church on the hill

And Chalk came tumbling after

 

Chalk fell down 

In every tavern in the town

The great war hero

Brought low

What deeds he had dared

On the field of warfare

The townsfolk weren't full to know

And too proud was he to boast

But a bitterness grew in his heart

Though he always was their toast

 

And Cheese had a family with Zita

And the bats flew out just to meet her

But the dark foreboding sky

Meant she thought she might die

On their next trip down to the coast

 

Chalk took a wife over the border

And they travelled down there to order

A home in the forest with the mountains

Looking by

And Zita felt the weight of the world

On her thigh

As she sat her child there to suckle him

By and by

I will name him Chalk after her father

And Cheese raised a stink

And went racing after 

Chalk, his brother in arms

Now enemies back on the farm

 

Chalk fought Cheese

Across Mountain trail

In the shadows of the great Transylvanian

Woods

And the pines did sway

And the wolves did wail

And the sword pierced Chalk’s heart

And that wasn't good

 

The chalk man fell like a tree in the forest

Geronimo cried the axman and the bears cried out

And Cheese's heart melted, and tears fell 

From his eyes 

And his soul grew dark under

Transylvanian skies

 

And he lived locked in his castle

For he had committed fratricide

To kill his own brother

No atonement could abide

And Zita raised two children

One Chalk and one Cheese

For each had a father

Who in their hour of need

Had answered the call of their country

And for their country did bleed

When they were soldiers

 

When we were soldiers

She sings to them

When we were soldiers

And lullaby’s them to sleep