John Robertson
Inspired by a neighbour in Ayr raising money to send decent boots to her son and his platoon in Afghanistan and by UK Defence Minister John Reid MP’s claim that Helmand was just a policing mission with no casualties expected: https://suno.com/s/gYmP1d2f1oeIaiYV
Lyrics:
In the boots my mother had to buy me
When I heard the man in the suit say it’d just be policing
When I heard him say he knew that no one would die
Then all the hairs on my neck came arising
And I knew then that it was just a big bloody lie
I’m walking the streets of Lashkar Gah wearing boots my mother had to buy me
Where no one would meet my eyes or wish me peace be
Walking the streets of Lashkar Gah where men came to die before us
I met the devil dressed in black and he just blew my best friend away
When we got to Helmand, we could tell right away
When even the name means courageous and brave
But they were more than that, they just didn’t care
To die in a holy war was all that they craved
I’m walking the streets of Lashkar Gah wearing boots my mother had to buy me
Where no one would meet my eyes or wish me peace be
Walking the streets of Lashkar Gah where men came to die before us
I met the devil dressed in black and he just blew my best friend away
They were ready for us, but we were not for them
In the wrong clothes, with useless boots and guns
Trapped like rats in mud walls by savage children
We began to die, strangers under unforgiving sun
I’m walking the streets of Lashkar Gah wearing boots my mother had to buy me
Where no one would meet my eyes or wish me peace be
Walking the streets of Lashkar Gah where men came to die before us
I met the devil dressed in black and he just blew my best friend away
Then one day we walk the main street guns levelled
Me and Charlie first with ten more behind in a line
They stare and stare then out of them a shadow shifts
The rattle of death and Charlie falls like a warning sign
I’m walking the streets of Lashkar Gah wearing boots my mother had to buy me
Where no one would meet my eyes or wish me peace be
Walking the streets of Lashkar Gah where men came to die before us
I met the devil dressed in black and he just blew my best friend away
We Jocks should not have been in that place, ever
From 1838 until we are free, fighting rich men’s wars
Those thousands of fathers before us, never to return
England’s own barbarians in their barbaric bloody wars
I’m walking the streets of Lashkar Gah wearing boots my mother had to buy me
Where no one would meet my eyes or wish me peace be
Walking the streets of Lashkar Gah where men came to die before us
I met the devil dressed in black and he just blew my best friend away
(John Robertson 2025)
Singing Scotland's Future and Past 
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