Dad's Gonna Kill Me Lyrics

Lyric discussion by asha_07 

Cover art for Dad's Gonna Kill Me lyrics by Richard Thompson

This song’s written through the eyes of an American soldier fighting in Iraq. The ‘dad’ in the song is slang for Baghdad. Other slang used - Frankenstein - HUMV customised with extra armour plating Muzzle Monkey - a GI Angel - A deceased GI Willie Pete - Napalm Ali Baba – An Arab

Spot on, but a correction. It's most likely from the perspective of a british soldier, since a muzzle monkey is slang for what brits call american GIs.

"Willie Pete" is actually slang for white phosphorus ('WP'), not napalm. White phosphorus burns rapidly, so white phosphorus munitions may be used as incendiaries or to generate smoke, either as a target marker or to create smoke screens.

"Ali Baba" may refer to Arabs in general, or it may be used in a more restricted sense to refer to the looters who emerged after the fall of Saddam. The name comes from the story "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves".

Incidentally, the more typical spelling is 'humvee', and it comes from the acronym HMMV...