Blood on the Risers

Blood on the Risers est un chant militaire des parachutistes américains de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Il est chanté par la 82^e division aéroportée, la 173^e brigade aéroportée, la 4th Brigade Combat Team, la 25^e division d'infanterie et la 101^e division aéroportée. Ce chant a été mis en scène dans la mini-série télévisée Frères d'armes et le jeu vidéo Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30. Chanté sur l'air du Battle Hymn of the Republic, le chant raconte le dernier saut d'un parachutiste dont le parachute n'a pas fonctionné. Des soldats des forces armées des États-Unis à la United States Army Airborne School de Fort Benning, Géorgie, doivent parfois en apprendre les paroles dans le cadre de leur entraînement.

He was just a rookie trooper and he surely shook with fright

He checked ALL his equipment and made sure his pack was tight;

He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar,

"You ain't gonna jump no more!"

(Refrain)

Gory, gory, what a HELLUVA WAY to die,

Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,

He ain't gonna jump no more!

"Is everybody happy?" cried the Sergeant looking up,

Our Hero feebly answered "Yes," and then they stood him up;

He jumped into the icy blast, his static line unhooked,

And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(Refrain)

He counted long, he counted loud, he waited for the shock,

He felt the wind, he felt the cold, he felt the awful drop,

The silk from his reserve spilled out and wrapped around his legs,

And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(Refrain)

The risers swung around his neck, connectors cracked his dome,

Suspension lines were tied in knots around his skinny bones;

The canopy became his shroud; he hurtled to the ground.

And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(Refrain)

The days he'd lived and loved and laughed kept running through his mind,

He thought about the girl back home, the one he'd left behind;

He thought about the medicALS and wondered what they'd find,

And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(Refrain)

The ambulance was on the spot, the jeeps were running wild,

The medics jumped and screamed with glee, rolled up their sleeves and smiled,

For it had been a week or more since last a 'chute had failed,

And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(Refrain)

He hit the ground, the sound was "Splat," his blood went spurting high,

His comrades THEY were heard to say: "A hell of a way to die!"

He lay there rolling round in the welter of his gore,

And he ain't gonna jump no more.

(Refrain)

(lentement, solennellement)

There was blood upon the risers, there were brains upon the chute,

Intestines were a'dangling from his Paratrooper suit,

He was a mess; they picked him up, and poured him from his boots,

And he ain't gonna jump no more

Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,

He ain't gonna jump no more!

Traduction

C'était juste un bleu et il devait trembler de peur

Il a vérifié son équipement et s'est assuré que son paquetage était serré ;

Il a dû s'asseoir et écouter le hurlement atroce des moteurs,

"Tu ne sauteras plus jamais !"

(Refrain)

Du sang, du sang, quelle putain de façon de mourir,

Il ne sautera plus jamais !

"Tout le monde va bien ?" a hurlé le Sergent en les regardant,

Notre héros a répondu "Oui" faiblement et s'est levé ;

Il a sauté dans le vent glacé, sa ligne s'est décrochée,