Joe Goodkin

Four songs from the 2022 Blues of Achilles release. Please visit the Album page for more information.

 Somebody Loved (The Invocation)

I sing of endless blood-soaked earth
Bodies crumbling in the dust
Men turned animal with rage
Consumed by violence and lust

Stretching back as far as time
Long before the reign of Rome
I sing tonight and every day
For those who never made it home

All of them were bone
All of them were blood
All of them were flesh
That somebody loved

A mother weeping for her son
A father begging for his boy
A wife collapsing at the news
A child playing with his toys

A friend fallen in the field
The body burned, the grief goes on
So many souls without a voice
So many ghosts that can’t move on

All of them were bone
All of them were blood
All of them were flesh
That somebody loved

Hands of Grief (Priam to Achilles)

I’m before you on my knees
Kissing the hands of my grief
My son was cut down in the fighting
And your hands took him from me

He was strong as a lion
With a full head of hair
Now it’s caked with dust and rottin’
But I still see him everywhere

If he had listened to my warnings
Maybe he’d still be at my side
He knew the risks but fought for glory
And when he fell part of me died

I don’t have much more to give
To a world that’s bled me dry
I don’t have much life to live
Or many tears left to cry

So think of someone who you love
Who might someday be like me
Grant mercy to my son’s body
And put it in my hands of grief
Put it in my hands of grief

The War Lullaby (Achilles on the Battlefield)

Like a farmer in autumn, harvesting wheat
So blinded by rage I can barely see
Leaving the bodies as feasts for the flies
Quietly humming my war lullaby

My enemy strikes, I pull him apart
In the heat of the kill I might eat his heart
If he begs for mercy I won’t hear his cry
The air is so thick with my war lullaby

Oh how the Angel of Blood sings “Hallelujah!”
Oh how it feels to put my sword right through ya
The guts comes tumbling out
Your brains fly through your mouth
And the rivers run red with our humanity

I meet the man who gutted my love
His mother and father watch from above
We circle each other, both after a prize
Til I cut him down with my war lullaby

Around and around I drag his shell
His body’s on earth but his soul is in hell
This is my prayer: may the dogs eat his eyes
But leave his ears to hear the war lullaby

They’ll Tell Your Story When You’re Gone (Thetis to Achilles)

Don’t you be afraid my dear
Don’t you be afraid my dear
In your time of need I’ll always be near
Don’t you be afraid my dear

In every dream I’ll come to you
In every dream I’ll come to you
Walk into the ocean, I’ll meet you in the blue
In every dream I’ll come to you

I’ll make you a melody so clear
I’ll make you a melody so clear
When you cry I’ll be the one who gathers up your tears
I’ll make you a melody so clear

They’ll tell your story when you’re gone
They’ll tell your story when you’re gone
A mother’s love is even stronger than a song
They’ll tell your story when you’re gone