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Click on the ‘Play’ button above to hear the song and read the lyrics below. If the player doesn’t start straight away, wait and then press the ‘Play’ button again.
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Postcard From No Man’s Land by ‘Les Paul’s’ (The Paul’s) is from the album Time To Get Real
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The track Postcard From No Man’s Land is available to download on Bandcamp HERE
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The album Time To Get Real is available to download at all good download stores HERE and on Bandcamp HERE
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Watch the Postcard From No Man’s Land promo video on YouTube HERE
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You can read the just published Review Indie music magazine’s Time To Get Real album review HERE
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History takes center stage on Postcard From No Man’s Land, one of the album’s most powerful entries. The song tells the story of the 369th Infantry Regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters, roughly two thousand Black American soldiers who fought and died for a country that refused to honor them. Spotlighting real figures like Henry Johnson and James Reese Europe, the track exposes the bitter irony of men fighting for freedom abroad while facing segregation and hostility from their own military. It is blues as historical record, mourning sacrifice while insisting on recognition long overdue.
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All of our ‘Les Paul’s’ (The Paul’s) songs are created through traditional recording with real instruments, supported by MIDI instruments for arrangement and production. Everything is produced in Logic Pro 12, and we do not incorporate any AI‑generated audio services.
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Postcard From No Man’s Land lyrics
2,000 American African men
All fighting for America’s freedom they must defend
Scorned and segregated by their white soldiers along the line
They were fighting 2 different wars at the same time
2 different wars at the same time
The white soldiers refused to fight side by side with black men
Or to stay in the same muddy trench as them
And Henry Johnson sitting in a trench in No Man’s Land
The rain, cold and mud is more than enough for any man
Trying to write a postcard from No Man’s Land
Trying to write a postcard
They shout ‘Over the top’ as the tin whistle blows
You’ll get killed even if you run fast or if you run slow
They gained 10 yards and lost 20 men
When will this nightmare ever end
So much devastation, so much death
Can you feel, can you smell, the devils poisonous breath
Henry volunteered to fight for his country don’t forget
How much more patriotic could a man possibly get
Was no one braver or mightier than he
He was one of the ‘Harlem Hellfighters’ you see
Trying to write a postcard from No Man’s Land
Trying to write a postcard from No Man’s Land
They were sent to war but weren’t allowed to fight
Made to dig holes and lay track lines, it just wasn’t right
Their army gave them to the French to fight with them
But warned the French to hide their women from the black men
In the forest Henry fought off an enemy attack all alone
He had 12 deep wounds down to his bone
He almost died but he never complained or moaned
They wrote about him in the newspapers back home
The Hellfighters never once retreated when under attack
They fought their way out when they were trapped
They kept them in the war longer than others that’s a fact
They were ferocious fighters down to the last man
And Henry’s still trying to finish his postcard from No Man’s Land
His postcard from No Man’s Land, No Man’s Land
James Rees Europe was their commander and was always a music man
When he wasn’t fighting he was leading a 44 piece American African Jazz band
Playing for the French, British and American GI’s
Then he’d return to fight with his men side by side
He’d marched jazz into the French souls and minds
Where it would stay for eternity, for all time
In battle, James was gassed and could no longer fight
In hospital ‘On Patrol in no mans land’ he would write
He’d inhaled the devil’s poisonous toxic breath
But he was luckier than most to escape death
The Hellfighters were given medals to honor all their names
But when they returned home things were never the same
They played jazz all along their victory parade
They drove down 5th Avenue as heroes that day
Henry with his battle scars half smiled and waved
But people’s memories don’t last and they fade
Soon after that, James was killed by the drummer in his band
Life never goes as you hoped, as you planned
He’d looked in the jaws of death across No Man’s Land
And in the end was knifed in the neck by a jealous man
And later, Henry died in poverty of his wounds on the floor
He’d won the battle, but he’d lost the war
And the postcard never sent from No Man’s Land
Was held tight in his stiff clutched hand
They award Henry a hero’s medal 97 years after he’d died
Systematic racism and bigotry tried to deny
This patriotic and brave black man
From finishing his postcard from No Man’s Land
From finishing his postcard from No Man’s Land
And after it was over and they’d buried the dead
Could it ever be any worse than this they said
But the devil was already making plans
For more blood to be spilt on Europe’s lands
For more blood to be spilt on Europe’s lands
The postcard from No Man’s Land
There were 2,000 American African men, dig it
Yeah, 2,000 American African men
All fighting for America’s freedom they must defend
Yeah well, they were scorned and segregated by their white soldiers along the line
They were fighting 2 different wars at the same time
Two different wars at the same time
Music composed and performed by Paul Odiase BMI No. 1252265 (Switzerland)
Song lyrics by Paul Robert Thomas PRS No. 497904008 (London)
PRS Tunecode: 067752TF
Audiosparx Catalog ID: 1443451 ISRC: US5UL2671801
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