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Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation Lyrics
I got a letter from L.B.J
It said, "This is your lucky day"
It's time to put your khaki trousers on
Though it may seem very queer
We've got no jobs to give you here
So we are sending you to Vietnam
Lyndon Johnson told the nation
Have no fear of escalation
I am trying everyone to please
Though it isn't really war
We're sending fifty thousand more
To help save Vietnam from the Vietnamese
I jumped off the old troop ship
And sank in mud up to my hips
I cussed until the captain called me down
Never mind how hard it's raining
Think of all the ground we're gaining
Just don't take one step outside of town
Lyndon Johnson told the nation
Have no fear of escalation
I am trying everyone to please
Though it isn't really war
We're sending fifty thousand more
To help save Vietnam from the Vietnamese
Every night the local gentry
Slip out past the sleeping sentry
They go to join the old V see
In their nightly little dramas
They put on their black pajamas
And come lobbing mortar shells at me
When Lyndon Johnson told the nation
Have no fear of escalation
I am trying everyone to please
Though it isn't really war
We're sending fifty thousand more
To help save Vietnam from the Vietnamese
We go round in helicopters
Like a bunch of big grasshoppers
Searching for the Viet Cong in vain
They left a note that they had gone
They had to get down to Saigon
Their government positions to maintain
And Lyndon Johnson told the nation
Have no fear of escalation
I am trying everyone to please
Though it isn't really war
We're sending fifty thousand more
To help save Vietnam from the Vietnamese
Well, here I sit in this rice paddy
Wondering about Big Daddy
And I know that Lyndon loves me so
Yet how sadly I remember
Way back yonder in November
When he said I'd never have to go
And Lyndon Johnson told the nation
Have no fear of escalation
I am trying everyone to please
Though it isn't really war
We're sending fifty thousand more
To help save Vietnam from the Vietnamese
It said, "This is your lucky day"
It's time to put your khaki trousers on
Though it may seem very queer
We've got no jobs to give you here
So we are sending you to Vietnam
Have no fear of escalation
I am trying everyone to please
Though it isn't really war
We're sending fifty thousand more
To help save Vietnam from the Vietnamese
And sank in mud up to my hips
I cussed until the captain called me down
Never mind how hard it's raining
Think of all the ground we're gaining
Just don't take one step outside of town
Have no fear of escalation
I am trying everyone to please
Though it isn't really war
We're sending fifty thousand more
To help save Vietnam from the Vietnamese
Slip out past the sleeping sentry
They go to join the old V see
In their nightly little dramas
They put on their black pajamas
And come lobbing mortar shells at me
Have no fear of escalation
I am trying everyone to please
Though it isn't really war
We're sending fifty thousand more
To help save Vietnam from the Vietnamese
Like a bunch of big grasshoppers
Searching for the Viet Cong in vain
They left a note that they had gone
They had to get down to Saigon
Their government positions to maintain
Have no fear of escalation
I am trying everyone to please
Though it isn't really war
We're sending fifty thousand more
To help save Vietnam from the Vietnamese
Wondering about Big Daddy
And I know that Lyndon loves me so
Yet how sadly I remember
Way back yonder in November
When he said I'd never have to go
Have no fear of escalation
I am trying everyone to please
Though it isn't really war
We're sending fifty thousand more
To help save Vietnam from the Vietnamese
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Can anyone help me interpret this song?
I'm thinking it's about President Lyndon B. Johnson?
I'm thinking it's about President Lyndon B. Johnson?
Pretty self-explanatory....It's about the supposed deception by Johnson to get the U.S. into the Vietnam War. First he sent over "advisors" who later trained the South Vietnamese army. Next thing you know our soldiers were over there fighting. Nothing wrong with the premise of helping to keep South Vietnamese free from a dictatorship, but how the war was presented and then how our soldiers were not allowed to win it (due to politics and caving into American public opinion) is what is so troublesome...at least to me.
Pretty self-explanatory....It's about the supposed deception by Johnson to get the U.S. into the Vietnam War. First he sent over "advisors" who later trained the South Vietnamese army. Next thing you know our soldiers were over there fighting. Nothing wrong with the premise of helping to keep South Vietnamese free from a dictatorship, but how the war was presented and then how our soldiers were not allowed to win it (due to politics and caving into American public opinion) is what is so troublesome...at least to me.
My relative was one of those "advisors" before he was drafter and then later enlisted for a second tour.
My relative was one of those "advisors" before he was drafter and then later enlisted for a second tour.
@michaelmccaffrey 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...
@michaelmccaffrey 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".