talking vietnam

Singer:phil ochs

sailing over to vietnam

southeast asian birmingham

well training is the word we use

nice word to have in case we lose

training a million vietnamese

to fight for the wrong government and the american way

well they put me in a barracks house

just across the way from laos

they said you're pretty safe when the troops deploy

but don't turn your back on your house boy

when they ring the gong

watch out for the viet-cong

well the sergeant said it's time to train

so i climbed aboard my helicopter plane

we flew above the battle ground

a sniper tried to shoot us down

he must have forgotten

we're only trainees

them commies never fight fair

friends the very next day we trained some more

we burned some villages down to the floor

yes we burned out the jungles far and wide

made sure those red apes had no place left to hide

threw all the people in relocation camps

under lock and key

made damn sure they're free

well i walked through the jungle and around the bend

who should i meet but president diem

said you're fighting to keep vietnam free

for good old de-em-moc-ra-cy

that means rule by one family

and 15

000 american troops

give or take a few

thousand

american

troops

he said

i was a fine old christian man