Talking Vietnam Blues
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 (Diem-ocracy).
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
Ruling this backward Buddhist land.
Well it ain't much but what the heck
It sure beats hell out of Chiang Kai-shek
I'm the power elite. Me and the 7th fleet.

He said: meet my sister, Madam Nhu
The sweetheart of Dien Bien Phu
He said: Meet my brothers, meet my aunts
With the government that doesn't take a chance.
Families that slay together, stay together.

Said: If you want to stay you'll have to pay
Over a million dollars a day.
But it's worth it all, don't you see?
If you loose the country you'll still have me.
Me and Syngman Rhee, Chiang Kai-shek, Madam Nhu.
Like I said on _Meet the Press_
'I regret that I have but one country to give for my life.'

Well now old Dien is gone and dead
All the new leaders are anti-Red.
Yes they're pro-American, freedom sensations
Against Red China, the United Nations.
Now all the news commentators and the CIA
are saying, Thank God for coincidence.


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Lyrics by Phil Ochs

  A Toast To Those Who Are Gone   A.M.A. Song   All My Heroes Are Dead   Another Age   Another Country   As I Walk Alone   Automation Song   Bach, Beethoven, Mozart & Me   Bach, Beethoven, Mozart & Me   Bach, Beethoven, Mozart Me   Ballad of Alferd Packer   Ballad of Medgar Evers   Ballad Of Oxford   Ballad Of Oxford (Jimmy Meredith)   Ballad of the Carpenter   Ballad Of The Cuban Invasion   Ballad of William Worthy   Basket In The Pool   Bound For Glory   Boy In Ohio   Bracero   Bullets of Mexico   Bwatue   Cannons Of Christianity   Celia   Changes   Changes [Live]   Changing Hands   Chaplain Of The War   Chords Of Fame   Christine Keeler   City Boy   Colored Town   Cops Of The World   Cross My Heart   Cross My Heart [#][Demo Version]   Crucifixion   Crucifixion [Album Version]   Crucifixion [Live]   Davey Moore   Days Of Decision   Do What I Have To Do   Doesn't Lenny Live Here Anymore   Doesn't Lenny Live Here Anymore   Draft Dodger Rag   Draft Dodger Rag [Live]   Encores   Fallen Star   Fifty Mile Hike   Firehouse 35   First Snow   Flower Lady   Freedom Riders   Gas Station Woman   Gas Station Women   Going Down To Mississipi   Green Hills   Half A Century High   Hands   Hazard, Kentucky   Here's To The State Of Mississippi   Here's To The State Of Richard Nixon   Here's To The State Of Richard Nixon (Live)   Here's To The State Of Mississippi   Here's To The State Of Richard Nixon   Heres To The State Of Richard Nixon   Highwayman [Live]   Hills of West Virginia   How High's The Watergate   How High's The Watergate   How Long   How Long [#]   Hunger And Cold   I Ain't Marching Anymore   I Ain't Marhing Anymore   I Ain't Marching Anymore   I Aint Marching Anymore   I Dreamed I Saw Phil Ochs Last Night   I Kill Therefore I Am   I Like Hitler   I'll Be There   I'm Going To Say It Now   I'm Tired   I've Had Her   I'll Be There   I'm Going To Say It Now   I'm Tired   I've Had Her   If I Knew   In The Heat Of The Summer   Iron Lady   Is There Anybody Here   It's Been A Long, Long Story   It's Been A Long, Long Story   Jim Dean Of Indiana   Joe Hill   Just One Of Those Days   Kansas City Bomber   Keep The Change   Knock on the Door   Legends   Links On The Chain   Lou Marsh   Love Is A Rainbow   Love Me, I'm A Liberal   Love Me, I'm A Liberal   Maintaining Law & Order   Maintaining Law And Order   Men Behind The Guns   Miranda   Monroe Town   Morning   Morning (Experiment In Jazz Chords)   Morning [#]   My Kingdom For A Car   My Life   Never Again   New Town   Niko Mchumba Ngombe   No Christmas In Kentucky   No More Songs   On Her Hand A Golden Ring   On My Way   One More Parade   One Way Ticket Home   Outside of a Small Circle of Friends   Paul Crump   Phil   Phil Ochs   Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Steve Goodman, David Blue &a...   Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Steve Goodman, David Blue An...   Pleasures of the Harbor   Positively (Not) 4th Street   Power And Glory   Power and the Glory   Pretty Smart On My Part   Pretty Smart On My Part [Album Version]   Rehearsals for Retirement   Rehearsals for Retirement [Album Version]   Remember Me   Ringing Of Revolution   Rivers Of The Blood   Sailors & Soldiers   Sailors & Soldiers   Santo Domingo   Sing Along With Me   Song of My Returning   Spaceman   Spanish Civil War Song   Take It Out of My Youth   Talkin' Pay Tv   Talking Birmingham Jam   Talking Cuban Crisis   Talking Pay T.V.   Talking Plane Disaster   Talking Vietnam   Tape From California   Tape from California [Live]   Ten Cents a Coup   That Was The President   That's The Way It's Gonna Be   That's What I Want To Hear   That's The Way It's Gonna Be   That's What I Want To Hear   The Ballad of Alferd Packer   The Ballad of Billie Sol   The Ballad Of John Henry Faulk   The Ballad of John Train   The Ballad Of Sonny Liston   The Ballad Of The Carpenter   The Ballad Of U.S. Steel   The Bells   The Cannons of Christianity   The Confession   The Day   The Doll House   The Draft Dodger Rag   The Floods Of Florence   The Harder They Fall   The Highwayman   The Hills Of West Virginia   The Iron Lady   The Marines Have Landed On The Shores Of Santo Dom   The Marines Have Landed On The Shores Of Santo Dom...   The Marines Have Landed On The Shores Of…   The Parade's Still Passing By   The Parade's Still Passing By   The Party   The Passing Of My Life   The Power & The Glory   The Power And The Glory   The Sad & Silent Song Of A Soldier   The Sad & Silent Song Of A Soldier   The Scorpion Departs But Never Returns   The Scorpion Departs But Never Returns [Album Vers...   The Shoals Of Herring   The Thresher   The Trial   The War Is Over   The World Began in Eden & Ended in Los Angeles   The World Began In Eden And Ended In Los Angeles   There But For   There but for Fortune   Thirsty Boots   This Old World Is Changing Hands   Time Was   Too Many Martyrs   United Fruit   Viet Nam   We Seek No Wider War   We Seek No Wider War [#]   What Are You Fighting For   What's That I Hear?   What's That I Hear?   When First Unto This Country   When I'm Gone   When I'm Gone   When In Rome   Where There's A Will There's A Way   Where There's A Will There's A Way   Where Were You In Chicago?   White Boots Marching In A Yellow Land   William Butler Yeates Visits Lincoln Park And Esca...   William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park &…   William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park & Esc...   William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park &&...   William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park and Escap...   William Moore   You Can't Get Stoned Enough   You Can't Get Stoned Enough   You Should Have Been Down In Mississppi   Your Eyes Will Taste Of The Flowers

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