Barny
(Words and music; Colin Reece)

From the Album ‘No Choice For A Beggar’ by Colin Reece

A young friend of mine went away to the Falklands in 1982.
Before he went he was a normal easy going teenager. By the time he came back, not surprisingly he'd changed and seemed to be possessed by some kind of hidden anger, and ended up pasting a good friend of us both close to pulp.
This is by no means an anti-squaddie song. In fact I hope it comes across as being as sympathetic to Barny as it is unsympathetic to the danger of suppressed violence.

Audio clip from ‘No Choice For A Beggar’

 

Click here for a You Tube clip of this song

 

Within his hand made shelter he sits frozen to the core

Trying to wipe the memories of what it was he saw

For what was once bizarre to him has now become the law

But Barny ain't got no-one left to fight no more

He just ain't got nobody left to fight no more

 

And now that it's all over he can take a well-earned rest

But that ain't what he's trained to do, it ain't what he does best

And with all that in mind I ask you 'what else is there left'

When Barny ain't got no-one left to fight no more

He just ain't got nobody left to fight no more.

 

And you feel it when he shakes your hand with all his best regard

The friendly pat upon your back comes on a shade too hard

And you feel that somewhere deep within he's quietly marked your card

You see Barny ain't got no-one left to fight no more

He just ain't got nobody left to fight no more.

 

Barny's war is over

But Barny ain't been told

Barny's ticking over

He's ready to explode.

 

And in alcoholic argument he seems to make good sense

Opinionated, guarded but a tiny touch intense

And then physical attack becomes the best form of defence

You see Barny ain't got no-one left to fight no more

He just ain't got nobody left to fight no more.

 

So within his mind made shelter he sits frozen to the core

Trying to wipe the memories of what it was he saw

For what was once bizarre to him has now become the law

You see Barny ain't got no-one left to fight no more

He just ain't got nobody left to fight no more.