One morning at breakfast
I said to my wife
"We've been everywhere once
And some places twice
As I had another helping
Of country ham"
She said, "We ain't never been to Vietnam
And there's a bunch of our boys over there"
So we went
To the Orient, Saigon
Well, we got a big welcome
When we drove in
Through the gates of a place
That they call Long Vinh
We checked in and everything
Got kinda quiet
But a soldier boy said
"Just wait till tonight
Things get noisy
Things start happening
Big bad firecrackers"
Well, that night we did about
Four shows for the boys
And they were living it up
With a whole lot of noise
We did our last song for the night
And we crawled into bed
For some peace and quiet
But things weren't peaceful
And things weren't quiet
Things were scary
Well, for a few minutes June
Never said one word
And I thought at first
That she hadn't heard
Then a shell exploded
Not two miles away
She sat up in bed
And I heard her say
"What was that?"
I said, "That was a shell
Or a bomb"
She said, "I'm scared"
I said, "Me too"
Well, all night long
That noise kept on
And the sound would chill you
Right to the bone
The bullets and the bombs
And the mortar shells
Shook our bed
Every time one fell
And it never let up
It was gonna get worse
Before it got any better
Well, when the sun came up
The noise died down
We got a few minutes sleep
And we were sleeping sound
When a soldier knocked
On our door and said
"Last night they brought in
Seven dead
And fourteen wounded"
And would we come down to the base hospital
And see the boys
"Yes"
So we went to the hospital
Ward by day
And every night we were singing away
Then the shells and the bombs
Was going again
And the helicopters brought in
The wounded men
Night after night
Day after day
Coming and a going
So we sadly sang for them
Our last song
And reluctantly
We said, "So long"
We did our best
To let them know that we care
For every last one of them
That's over there
Whether we belong over there or not
Somebody over here loves them
And needs them
Well, now that's about all
That there is to tell
About that little trip
Into living hell
And if I ever go back
Over there any more
I hope there's none of our boys
There for me to sing for
I hope that war is over with
And they all come back home
To stay
In peace