No Man Stands Alone - the Ballad of Barney Ross
CHORUS
No man stands alone
in the street, the ring or the combat zone
some lay in the gutter
some sit on a throne
but no man stands alone
At the age of fourteen
he had a dream
to become a rabbi
Chicago 1924
then his dad was killed by men
who tried to rob the family store
his brothers and sisters were sent away
to an orphanage where they would stay
and though his faith was blown away
he vowed to bring them home someday
To God and man revenge he swore
he walked with gamblers,
hoods and whores
he fit right in
then on a whim
he walked into a boxing gym
he fought Canzoneri in ‘33
for the lightweight title victory
he made up with God
and finally
he could reclaim his family
Those McLarnon fights
were the stuff of lore
the only man
to ever put him on the floor
he won two out of three,
then in the Armstrong bout
he nearly died
but was never knocked out
then in 1941
the Japanese pulled a sneaky one
so he joined the marines
and he got a gun
and he sailed into the rising sun
On Guadalcanal,
he fought so brave
overmatched like old King Dave
he put twenty attackers
in an early grave
for the one marine
whose life he saved
in a hospital bed
for months and days
they kept him in a morphine haze
then sent him home
strung out and beat
to the pushers on the mean, mean street
Hollywood was very keen
to put his story on the silver screen
but they focused on the drug abuse
he tried to sue
but what’s the use?
Barney Ross was brave and strong
they couldn’t keep him down for long
his rabbi said that he must try
to be a model Jew in the public eye
but from the public eye he slipped
like a phantom radar blip
they say he hunted Nazi criminals
and he ran some guns to Israel
Barney Ross was brave and strong
I thought that he deserved a song
he did some bad
he did some good
and he saved the world
the best he could
Copyright © Art Wright | Year Posted 2013
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