Album: Jerusalem (2002)

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• I'm just an American boy, raised on MTV
  And I've seen all the kids in the soda pop ads
  But none of 'em look like me.
  So I started lookin' around for a light out of the dim
  And the first thing I heard that made sense was the word
  Of Mohammed, peace be upon him
  
  A shadu la ilaha illa Allah
  There is no God but God
  
  If my daddy could see me now â?? chains around my feet
  He don't understand that sometimes a man's
  Got to fight for what he believes
  And I believe God is great, all praise due to him
  And if I should die, I'll rise up to the sky
  Just like Jesus, peace be upon him
  
  We came to fight the Jihad, and our hearts were pure and strong.
  As death filled the air, we all offered up prayers
  And prepared for our martyrdom.
  But Allah had some other plan, some secret not revealed
  Now they're draggin' me back with my head in a sack
  To the land of the infidel.
  
  A shadu la ilaha illa Allah
  A shadu la ilaha illa Allah Writer/s: STEPHEN F. (FAIN) EARLE
  Publisher: BMG Rights Management
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 7

• Jim from Council, IdLindh is a Marin County freak who converted to Islam and supported Taliban. It's too bad he didn't didn't get buried in Afghanistan with his buddies.
  Hopefully he's learning all about "truth" from his buddies in prison.
• Charles from Glenside, PaWell, actually Steve Earle was pretty much ignored by country radio stations well before this tune ever came about, so I doubt that he considered releasing it to be any great risk in that regard.
• Ben from Prince George, CanadaSteve Earle was born in Virginia, but his grandpa sent his dad a can full of dirt from Texas so he could say the first soil his grandson set his feet on was Texas soil.
  
  This is an amazing song. Its not a taliban support song. It's a song about a young mans search for truth.
• Rob from Adelaide, AustraliaIf you do listen to Sidetracks, listen first to Johnny Too Bad - the best Steve Earle he never wrote IMHO!
• Stefanie from Rock Hill, ScI remember hearing about this song on NPR, and it caused quite a controversy.
• Stefanie Magura from Rock Hill, ScI completely agree with you Mark from England. That was very brave of him to release this song. Steve Earl is apparently a staunch liberal, so that's probably the kind of song he would write. Btw, I don't find anything wrong with that. I don't like Bush, but that's just my opinion. Btw, calling him a country-rocker is enough. Redneck to some people can be considered very dirogatory. He is from the South though. I want to say Texas, but I'm not sure.
• Mark from Hereford, EnglandAmazingly brave of Steve Earle to release this. I am sure he knew very well how it would be received. For a redneck country-rocker to do this kind of song was certain to see his work taken off every country music station. These days he is probably more welcome in Europe, with a strong following in the UK.
  Steve Earle is, in all seriousness, the greatest songwriter of the last thirty years. Why only two songs here, and those unrepresentative of his work? Go and get 'Side Tracks', for a sample of what he has been doing. And those are the songs not considered good enough to get on the other albums!

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