Knew that would wake a few of ya up!
Well here it is, we were performing Amadou Diallo, and an older gent began to heckle us, afterwards asking why don't we sing one aboutthe cops who are shot. I told him that the song was about Racial blindness, not about cops... but then I got to thinking, it was ... sort of. So... Well, there is an old expression in Belfast, the Pig in the middle, to describe the working class soldier who becomes the target for a class he gets no benifit from, and well the song just fell out of the noggin. So here it is, it will likely change a bit as I work the tune in... but I thought I'd open it up for comment.
(all rights reserved by Larry Otway, but as soon as I get a tape, let me know if ya want it for sessions Kevin and others...)

The Pig in the Middle

I'll sing you a song bout the cop who died
for the land that he loved, the land of his pride
the land that he gave his child hood and youth
the land that had promised to tell him the truth
but the truth that they gave him no more than a riddle
for his country just made him the pig in the middle

In school he was taught about the wars we won
With God on our side and a US made gun
Till we lost Viet Nam because of traitors and press
would you die for your country his answer was yes
And he dreamed of glory and dreamed of the day
when the county he loved would call him away

He joined the army as soon as he'd grown,
a gangly teenager who'd never left home
but boot camp was hard, and harder by far
was his days in the desert during the Gulf war
He returned to this land, still bearing his pride
and his stead fast belief that God was on our side

There were few jobs to be had, for a soldiers skill
was little more than to be killed or to kill
So he settled on police work, and a hope to do good
bringing law and order to a city neighborhood
never asking why we needed more jails than schools
he was just on the street enforcing the rules.

To the kid that he shot, he was a soldier at war
to the kid who shot him, he was a symbol no more
A symbol of abuse of distrust and of neglect
a symbol of a land that gave him no respect
What value is respect when the pipes and drums sound
when the symbols and the man are left in the cold ground