Through the Smoke and the Sea - West Coast AI (Rock Ballad)

“Through the Smoke and the Sea” is a cinematic rock ballad told from the perspective of a soldier landing on Omaha Beach during D-Day. It explores the chaos, fear, and trauma of the invasion while honoring the unspoken bonds between soldiers. Blending raw imagery with reflective moments, the song captures both the brutality of war and the lasting emotional scars it leaves. It's a deeply personal, haunting tribute to sacrifice, survival, and memory.

Lyrics:

Intro:
“June 6th, 1944…
They said it’d be the longest day
They didn’t say it’d start with silence and end with ghosts.”

Verse:
We rocked with the waves, steel box on the tide
Some puked, some prayed, some swallowed their pride
I gripped my rifle like it knew the way
My boots hit the surf, and the world went gray

Refrain:
Don’t stop, don’t fall, don’t look behind
The sand’s not real, the dead ain’t mine
Forward is breath, backward is none
One step closer to the smoking gun

Verse:
Someone screamed — was it me?
Mud in my mouth, blood on my knee
Helmet cracked, ears still ringin’
A prayer got stuck somewhere mid-singin’

Pre-Chorus:
Tell my mother I wore her cross
Tell my brother I knew the cost
Tell my father I saw the sea
Turn red where it used to cradle me

Chorus:
Through the smoke and the sea, we ran through the roar
No map, no mercy, no “after the war”
With each footstep claimed by the fire and foam
We died just to inch a few yards from home

Bridge:
Dear Jimmy
I never said goodbye right
You joked I’d marry that nurse
And be late to my own funeral
Guess I made it early
They got you at the seawall
Still see you standing
Then falling
Then still

Verse:
Smoke painted angels on shattered sky
A shovel for a rifle, no time to ask why
I carried a boy with half a face
Left half my soul in his place

Refrain:
He called for his sister, not the Lord
He bled on my hands like a broken chord
No anthem played, no trumpet cried
Only the tide, and the silence inside

Chorus:
Through the smoke and the sea, we clawed through the storm
Each heartbeat a mutiny, each second deformed
We weren’t built for glory, we weren’t built for peace
We were built to break — and never release

Bridge:
I walked with ghosts down Omaha’s shore
Their boots left no print, their eyes held no war
One reached through my ribs, held my final breath
And whispered, “You carry the weight of our death.”

Verse:
But I lived — for Tommy, for Red, for the kid
For every last soul who did what we did
I wake with the thunder still lodged in my chest
But I stand, and I walk, and I try to rest

Final Chorus:
Through the smoke and the sea, I remember the light
When we reached the high ground, bloodied but right
I held up a photo, kissed it once more
A promise kept on a foreign shore

Outro:
“They said it’d be the longest day
But the longest part…
Was surviving it.”

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