Sandman
Written by Dewey Bunnell, ©1971
Found on America, History, America's Gold, Live In Central Park, The Very Best Of America, America In Concert (95), Live, Highway, Hits You Remember Live, The Definitive America, The Complete Greatest Hits, The Grand Cayman Concert, and Here & Now.

Ain't it foggy outside
All the planes have been grounded
Ain't the fire inside?
Let's all go stand around it
Funny, I've been there
And you've been here
And we ain't had no time to drink that beer

'Cause I understand you've been running from the man
That goes by the name of the Sandman
He flies the sky like an eagle in the eye
Of a hurricane that's abandoned

Ain't the years gone by fast
I suppose you have missed them
Oh, I almost forgot to ask
Did you hear of my enlistment?

Funny, I've been there
And you've been here
And we ain't had no time to drink that beer

'Cause I understand you've been running from the man
That goes by the name of the Sandman
He flies the sky like an eagle in the eye
Of a hurricane that's abandoned

I understand you've been running from the man
That goes by the name of the Sandman
He flies the sky like an eagle in the eye
Of a hurricane that's abandoned

I understand you've been running from the man
That goes by the name of the Sandman
He flies the sky like an eagle in the eye
Of a hurricane that's abandoned

I understand you've been running from the man
That goes by the name of the Sandman
He flies the sky like an eagle in the eye
Of a hurricane that's abandoned

Highway Highlight (from the box set booklet) "Sandman," another Bunnell composition, is an unsettling number that features an effects-laden electric guitar line for color. Dewey based the lyric, in part, on conversations he'd had at West Ruislip with airmen returning from Vietnam: "They'd buy us a beer at the commissary and tell us stories about the war. We weren't very political or very military. But 'Sandman' came out of our eyes being opened to the fact that these guys weren't much older than us. One of the things that I vividly remember hearing one guy say is that he hardly ever slept in Vietnam--he was afraid to go to sleep. So there's the line, 'You've been running from the man who goes by the name of the Sandman'--you don't want to go to sleep because you might be killed. I thought, What a lousy way to live."