Artist: Tom Paxton
Title: Lyndon Johnson told the nation

Capo on the 7th Fret


   
Am
I got a letter from L.B.J 
   Dm
It said, "This is your lucky day" 
     Am                E7            Am    E7
It's time to put your khaki trousers on
Am 
Though it may seem very queer 
      Dm
We've got no jobs to give you here 
   Am             E7          Am
So we are sending you to Vietnam 

     F              C
And Lyndon Johnson told the nation 
 Dm               Am
Have no fear of escalation 
             E7           Am
I am trying everyone to please 
F                C
Though it isn't really war 
 Dm                 Am
We're sending fifty thousand more
              E7                 Am    E7 
To help save Vietnam from Vietnamese 



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 

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 sixty thousand more 
To help save Vietnam from Vietnamese 

Every night the local gentry 
Slip out past the sleeping sentry 
They go to join the old V.C. 
In their nightly little dramas 
They put on their black pajamas 
And come lobbing mortar shells at me 

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 seventy thousand more 
To help save Vietnam from Vietnamese 

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 

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 

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 a hundred thousand more 
To help save Vietnam from the Vietnamese