Galt MacDermot

3-5-0-0

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3-5-0-0 Lyrics

Ripped open by metal explosion
Caught in barbed wire
Fireball
Bullet shock
Bayonet
Electricity
Shrapnel
Throbbing meat
Electronic data processing
Black uniforms
Bare feet, carbines
Mail-order rifles
Shoot the muscles
256 Viet Cong captured
256 Viet Cong captured

Prisoners in Niggertown
It's a dirty little war
Three Five Zero Zero
Take weapons up and begin to kill
Watch the long long armies drifting home

Submitted by

songmeanings On Feb 06, 2012

Dead End [From Hair]

The Truth

African Prayer [Instrumental]

Down and Low [Instrumental]

Aquarius

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SongMeanings

Submitter

2012-02-06 16:12:51

1 Meaning

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by GraceForce

9y ago

When we were putting together “Hair” we got many curious visitors. One young man was a black Vietnam vet. 3-5-0-0 was a code used by Army Officers in the field that meant it was a dangerous mission so to send black soldiers. It got to be so obvious the enlisted men, black and white, questioned the 3-5-0-0 orders as unfair- only to get punished. The young man said the black soldiers felt like prisoners because they couldn’t protest or quit, and he showed me a crumpled piece of paper and said he wanted to turn it into a poem, and he was hoping I could help him. I asked, “What makes you think this isn’t a poem?” I asked if I could use it as a song. It is a complete poem and not taken from any longer piece. I don’t remember his name. I wrote and directed the musical Hair. Since I was a very young woman the powers that be said it was written and put together by men. I had one man’s help with the melodies, but that’s it. The casualties in Vietnam were 70% black and the army’s makeup was 35% black.

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