In 1965 Vietnam seemed like just another foreign war, but it wasn't
It was different in many ways, as so were those that did the fighting
In World War II the average age of the combat soldier was twenty-six
In Vietnam he was nineteen
In inininininin Vietnam he was nineteen

In inininininin Vietnam, he was nineteen
In Vietnam, he was nineteen
N-n-n-n-nineteen

The heaviest fighting of the past two weeks
Continued today twenty-five miles northwest of Saigon

I really wasn't sure what was going on

N-n-n-n-nineteen, nineteen
N-nineteen, nineteen

In Vietnam the combat soldier typically served a twelve-month tour of duty
But was exposed to hostile fire almost every day

N-n-n-n-nineteen
(N-n-n-n-nineteen) nineteen

In Saigon a US military spokesman said today
More than seven hundred enemy troops were killed last week
In that sensitive border area
In all of South Vietnam
The enemy lost a total of two thousand six hundred eighty-nine soldiers

All those who remember the war
They won't forget what they've seen
Destruction of men in their prime
Whose average age was nineteen

D-d-d-d-d-destruction
D-d-d-d-d-destruction

According to a Veteran's Administration study
Half of the Vietnam combat veterans suffered From what psychiatrists call
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Many vets complain of alienation, rage, or guilt
Some succumb to suicidal thoughts
Eight to ten years after coming home
Almost eight-hundred-thousand men
Are still fighting the Vietnam War

None of them received a hero's welcome

Nineteen
S-S-S-S-Saigon
Nineteen, n-n-n-n-n-ninteen
N-n-n-n-n-ninteen

Nineteen n-n-n-n-n-ninteen
N-n-n-n-n-ninteen, nineteen

(Vietnam, S-S-S-S-Saigon)

Purple heart, Saigon

(I wasn't really sure what was going on)


Lyrics submitted by Nelly

19 Lyrics as written by Paul Hardcastle William Couturie

Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY, BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

19 song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

9 Comments

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment

    ...No. I hardly think you can call a song "a perpetuation of imperialism" purely because it looks at the problems faced by the western army. He only chose to attack this one facet of the war, it doesn't necessarily mean he thought everything else about it was fine.

    hastalavictoriaon December 11, 2006   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Album art
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him. There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Album art
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines: "Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet" So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other: "I had all and then most of you" Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart "Some and now none of you" Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship. This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Album art
No Surprises
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Album art
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.