[00:00.00]Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation (LP版) - Tom Paxton
[00:08.45]I got a letter from L B J
[00:10.09]It said this is your lucky day
[00:12.08]It's time to put your khaki trousers on
[00:16.02]Though it may seem very queer
[00:17.93]We've got no jobs to give you here
[00:19.94]So we are sending you to Viet Nam
[00:24.01]Lyndon Johnson told the nation
[00:25.99]"Have no fear of escalation
[00:27.93]I am trying everyone to please
[00:32.11]Though it isn't really war
[00:33.85]We're sending fifty thousand more
[00:35.85]To help save Viet nam from Viet Namese"
[00:40.15]I jumped off the old troop ship
[00:41.87]And sank in mud up to my hips
[00:43.80]I cussed until the captain called me down
[00:48.01]Never mind how hard it's raining
[00:49.98]Think of all the ground we're gaining
[00:51.95]Just don't take one step outside of town
[00:55.84]Lyndon Johnson told the nation
[00:57.88]"Have no fear of escalation
[00:59.74]I am trying everyone to please
[01:03.94]Though it isn't really war
[01:05.74]We're sending fifty thousand more
[01:07.73]To help save Viet nam from Viet Namese"
[01:14.28]Every night the local gentry
[01:15.88]Sneak out past the sleeping sentry
[01:17.91]They go to join the old VC
[01:21.83]In their nightly little dramas
[01:23.71]They put on their black pajamas
[01:25.85]And come lobbing mortar shells at me
[01:29.70]Lyndon Johnson told the nation
[01:31.78]"Have no fear of escalation
[01:33.72]I am trying everyone to please
[01:37.81]Though it isn't really war
[01:39.58]We're sending fifty thousand more
[01:41.61]To help save Viet nam from Viet Namese"
[01:47.90]We go round in helicopters
[01:49.54]Like a bunch of big grasshoppers
[01:51.84]Searching for the Viet Cong in vain
[01:55.77]They left a note that they had gone
[01:57.78]They had to get down to Saigon
[01:59.79]Their government positions to maintain
[02:03.62]Lyndon Johnson told the nation
[02:05.72]"Have no fear of escalation
[02:07.76]I am trying everyone to please
[02:11.88]Though it isn't really war
[02:13.67]We're sending fifty thousand more
[02:15.73]To help save Viet nam from Viet Namese"
[02:21.77]Well here I sit in this rice paddy
[02:23.78]Wondering about Big Daddy
[02:25.76]And I know that Lyndon loves me so
[02:29.76]Yet how sadly I remember
[02:31.67]Way back yonder in November
[02:33.68]When he said I'd never have to go
[02:37.61]Lyndon Johnson told the nation
[02:39.71]"Have no fear of escalation
[02:41.58]I am trying everyone to please
[02:45.62]Though it isn't really war
[02:47.57]We're sending fifty thousand more
[02:49.58]To help save Viet nam from Viet Namese"