Back to Vietnam

Lyrics

He wakes up screaming He wakes up screaming He wakes up He wakes up in a cold sweat He dreams he'll to get a letter in the post Telling him he's been called up again (again, again) They're calling back the national guard They're calling back the national guard They'll send him back Send him back Back to Vietnam Back to Vietnam He's running in the jungle He's running with a bayonet With a machine gun And he's wild on speed The enemy He can't see them But he knows they're there He's aware And all around him He hears gunfire He's caught on fire He's so frightened He wakes up Screaming He wakes up Screaming He dreads the day A letter in the post Telling him they're calling back out the national guard They'll send him back Send him back Send him back Back to Vietnam They're bringing back Conscription They'll give anyone over seventeen a gun And the housewife In her kitchen All she can think of Is what to give her husband for tea But he won't be back Do we have to go through it all again? Do we have to go through it all again? In the jungle He knows the enemy's there And he's frightened Cause they might send him back Again It's all the same: Vietnam, North Korea First World War, Venezuela Argentina, Falkland Islands Another war, what's it for? Another war, what's it for? Another war, what's it for? Another war, what's it for? Now he's in a home For Vietnam Refugees He's frightened He's scared He's in an institution (he's a gun) He's in a wheelchair (he's a machine) He's in a wheelchair (he's a machine) (A machine gun) He's frightened He's running wild Give him more some LSD Give him more some speed Get him more some LSD War is the last creative act I thought we might've learned some lesson I thought we might've learned some lesson Richard Nixon on Channel Eleven I heard it first Happy birthday, happy Christmas Guns go bang bang "I don't look at tree lines and see 'em exploding anymore I don't lash on-- taking people out And I was doing that, I'm-- it's crazy, I know But that's where my head was. That's over And I'm really calm and relaxed about that stuff And that's-- #1, that's a tremendous thing."