Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation
Guitar
Ukulele
Verse
I got a letter from L.B.J.
It said, “This is your lucky day,
It’s time to put your khaki trousers on.
Though it may seem very queer,
We’ve got no jobs to give you here,
So we are sending you to Vietnam.”
Chorus
Lyndon Johnson told the nation
“Have no fear of escalation,
I am trying everyone to please.
Though it isn’t really war,
We’re sending fifty thousand more
To help save Vietnam from Vietnamese.”
Verse
I jumped off the old troop ship
And sank in mud up to my hips
I cussed until the captain called me down
“Never mind how hard it’s raining,
Think of all the ground we’re gaining,
Just don’t take one step outside of town.”
Chorus
Lyndon Johnson told the nation
“Have no fear of escalation,
I am trying everyone to please.
Though it isn’t really war,
We’re sending fifty thousand more
To help save Vietnam from Vietnamese.”
Verse
Every night the local gentry
Slip out past the sleeping sentry
They go out to join the old V.C.
In their nightly little dramas
They put on their black pajamas
And come lobbing mortar shells at me
Chorus
But Lyndon Johnson told the nation
“Have no fear of escalation,
I am trying everyone to please.
Though it isn’t really war,
We’re sending fifty thousand more
To help save Vietnam from Vietnamese.”
Verse
We go round in helicopters
Like a bunch of big grasshoppers
Searching for the Viet Cong in vain
They left a note that they had gone
They had to get down to Saigon
Their government positions to maintain
Chorus
And Lyndon Johnson told the nation
“Have no fear of escalation,
I am trying everyone to please.
Though it isn’t really war,
We’re sending fifty thousand more
To help save Vietnam from Vietnamese.”
Verse
Well, here I sit in this rice paddy
Wondering about Big Daddy
And I know that Lyndon loves me so
Yet how sadly I remember
Way back yonder in November
When he said I’d never have to go
Chorus
But Lyndon Johnson told the nation
“Have no fear of escalation,
I am trying everyone to please.
Though it isn’t really war,
We’re sending fifty thousand more
To help save Vietnam from Vietnamese.”