| Tom Paxton – Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| @[michaelmccaffrey:20433] It's about the Vietnam war as stated above and how Lyndon B Johnson kept escalating the American military presence there in spite of claiming he wouldn't (or wasn't). The song isn't transcribed correctly here as the lyrics actually increase the number of troops added for each verse. In between the explanation of escalation the lyrics reference how the young and uneducated were targeted for recruitment (a fun fact is that during some periods of the war recruitment targeted men old enough to be enlisted but who wouldn't be old enough to vote for a few years). Also the lyrics basically explained how it sucked to go to Vietnam, fighting a war that a lot of the locals didn't support the ARVN and by extension the US in. Basically being at risk of being killed by the very people the enlisted were told they were there to protect. And it's not V see as in the transcription but VC , Viet Cong, the North Vietnamese "irregulars". | |
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