Robert Cray's "Twenty" Speaks With The Voice of a Disillusioned Soldier

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Robert Cray Band's forthcoming album "Twenty" is set for release on a week bookended by the May 24 birthday of one of this generation's most eloquent protest songwriters, Bob Dylan, and by Memorial Day, May 30. The dates are significant when one considers the subject matter which defines the album's title track, "Twenty."

"The song is about an innocent young guy, who, after the events of 9/11, wants to do his part for his country," Cray explains. "He doesn't know he's going to end up in Iraq, watching the horror that's going on there...and he ends up losing his life. It's a subject that needs to be spoken about and is in some ways, a continuation of one of the songs we did on the last album."

While Cray has generally focused his writing on personal relationships, his song "Survivor" as well as co-producer and bandmate Jim Pugh's "Distant Shore," both on Cray's 2003 CD "Time Will Tell," were also inspired by concerns about what was, at the time of their writing, an impending war in Iraq.

Robert Cray is a five time Grammy winner who grew up on military bases in the U.S. and abroad. His father served in Vietnam, so Robert has personal knowledge of the effect on a family when one of it's members is serving abroad.

On May 24 – the album's street date -- TrueMajority.org, a non partisan, non-profit, grassroots education and advocacy project founded by Ben Cohen (Ben & Jerry's), plans to offer the song via streaming audio to its entire online community of 575,000 Americans.

The May 24 release of "Twenty," Cray's fourteenth album, will be backed by an extensive worldwide tour by The Robert Cray Band beginning on the week of release with a May 26 San Francisco benefit for Music In Schools Today. The tour will continue across the U.S. and Europe throughout the summer.

"Twenty"
words and music by Robert Cray
© 2005 Robert Cray Music, Inc (BMI)

When you’re used up, where do you go
Soldier
Mother dry your eyes, there’s no need to cry
I’m not a boy, it’s what I signed up for

When you’re used up, where do you go
Soldier
I can’t take the heat, and I hardly sleep anymore
What’d we come here for

Standing out here in the desert
Trying to protect an oil line
I’d really like to do my job but
This ain’t the country that I had in mind
They call this a war on terror
I see a lot of civilians dying
Mothers, sons, fathers and daughters
Not to mention some friends of mine
Some friends of mine

Was supposed to leave last week
Promises they don’t keep anymore
Got to fight the rich man’s war

When you’re used up, where do you go
Soldier
Late in 2004
Comes a knock at the door
It’s no surprise
Mother dry your eyes