Yeah

Some folks wave a flag without ever knowin’

what it means to watch your brother or sister fall

I’ve stood on sand that swallowed blood

and I’ve wept over caskets draped in stars

Freedom, it’s never free

(yeah, never free)

(uh huh)

I was just eighteen, boots tight on that line

Signed my life to the Corps, thought I’d come back fine

Desert sun cut deep, nights colder than steel

Had my brothers at my side, that’s how we learned to heal (come on)

Letters from home, talked of fireworks and beer

While we dodged IEDs, swallowing fear

Saw my best friend smile right before he was gone

Now I carry his dog tags, still tryin’ to move on (yeah)

Salute that flag, yeah wave it high (wave it high)

But remember the tears in a mother’s eyes

Every cheer at a parade has a ghost in tow

Freedom’s cost is a price we know (we know, we know)

Freedom’s costs, written in names on stone

Echoed in cries when a Marine comes home alone (so alone)

Raise your glass, say a prayer tonight

For the ones who gave all so you could hold your life tight (hold it tight, yeah)

(come on, yeah)

Then I joined the Air Force, chased sunsets and dust

Watched brothers drop bombs, placed my solemn trust

In skies that carried dreams, and nightmares too

When I close my eyes, still hear that haunting hue

We toast to the fallen every Fourth of July

But no sparkler can burn away the reason we cry (nah)

It’s the empty chairs, the laughter that’s gone

The quiet salute at dusk, when the bugle plays on (plays on)

Salute that flag, yeah wave it high (wave it high)

But remember the tears in a mother’s eyes

Every cheer at a parade has a ghost in tow

Freedom’s cost is a price we know (price we know)

Freedom’s costs, written in names on stone

Echoed in cries when a airman comes home alone (all alone)

Raise your glass, say a prayer tonight

For the ones who gave all so you could hold your life tight (yeah, yeah)

Sometimes I drive past fields where kids still play

Wonder if they know who bled for that day (uh huh)

Ain’t about the politics, it’s the brotherhood’s creed

We fought so you’d be free to chase your dream

Sometimes at night, I talk to the sky

Ask my fallen brothers, “did we do it right?”

Their silence says more than words ever could

They gave it all for this neighborhood (yeah, this whole hood)

Yo, stars and stripes wrapped around a box of pain

21 guns echo loud in my brain

Seen a father drop to knees, heard a mother cry

Freedom rings, but it costs a life every time

Salute that flag, but know the toll

A folded triangle can crush a soul

So this Fourth, when the fireworks crack the sky

Pour one out for the brothers who never got goodbye (yeah, never got goodbye)

Freedom’s costs, written in names on stone (on stone)

Echoed in cries when a Marine comes home alone

Raise your glass, say a prayer tonight (say a prayer, yeah)

For the ones who gave all so you could hold your life tight

I’d give back every firework’s glow

For just one more laugh with the man I know

He was genuine, pure as a soul can be

Laid it all down so this land could stay free (stay free, yeah)

So when you see those stripes and stars

remember who paid with their hearts

with their lives, with their final breath

Freedom’s cost is paid in death

But it’s love that keeps their memory alive

(yeah, always alive)