Phil Ochs - Talking Vietnam Blues Lyrics

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

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