the vietnam talking blues

Johnny Cash

One morning at breakfast I said to my wife
We ve been everywhere once and some places twice
As I had another helping of country ham
she said We haven t never been to Vietnam
there s a bunch of our boys over there
So we went
To the area Saigon
Well we got a big welcome when we drove in
Through the gates of a placed named Long Ben
We checked in and everything got kinda quite
But a soldier boy said Just wait till tonight
Things get noisy things start happening
Big bad firecrackers

Well that night we did about four shows for the boys
And they were living it up with a whole lot of noise
We did our last song for the night
Then we crawled into bed for some peace and quite
But things weren t peaceful things weren t quite
Things were scary

Well for a few minutes June hadn t said a word
Then I thought at first she hadn t heard
Then a shell exploded not two miles away
She sat up in bed and I heard her say
What was that I said That was a shell or a bomb
She said I m scared I said Me too

Well all night long that noise kept on
And the sound would chill you right to the bone
The bullets and the bombs and the motor shells
shook our bed every time one fell and it never let up
It was gonna get worse before it got any better

Well, when the sun came up the noise died down
We got a few minutes sleep and we were sleeping sound
Then the soldier knocked on our door and said
The Last night we brought in seven dead and fourteen wounded!
And we were come down to the base hospital
And see the boys Yeah

So we went to the hospital war by day
And every night we were singing away
Then the shells and the bombs till dawn again
And the helicopter brought in a wounded man
night after night day after day
coming and a going

So we sadly sang for them our last song
And reluctantly we said so long
We did our best to let them know that we cared
for every last one of them over there
Whether we belonged over there or not
somebody over here loves them and needs them

Well now that s about all there is to tell
about our little trip and the living hell
and if I ever go back over there anymore
I hope there s none of our boys there for me to sing for
I hope this old war s over with and they re all back home
To stay in peace