Johnny Cash – Singing In Vietnam Talking Blues (Ukulele)

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One mornin' at breakfast I said to my wife,

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"We've been ev'rywhere once and some places twice."

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As I had another helping of country ham, she said,

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     "We ain't never been to Vietnam,

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And there's a bunch of our boys over there."

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So       we went to the Orient,     Saigon.

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Well, we got a big welcome when we drove in

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To the gates of a place that they call Long Ben.

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We checked in and ev'rything got kind of quiet.

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But a soldier boy said, "Just wait till tonight.

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Things get noisy, things start happenin'.

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Big, bad firecrackers."

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Well, that night we did about four shows for the boys

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And they were livin' it up with a whole lot of noise.

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We did our last song for the night

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And we crawled into bed for some peace and quiet.

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But things weren't peaceful and things weren't      quiet.

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Things were      scary.

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Well, for a few minutes, June never said one word,

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And I     thought at first that she hadn't heard.

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Then a shell exploded not two miles away.

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She sat up in bed and I heard her say,

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"What was that?" I said, "That was a shell    or a bomb."

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She said, "I'm scared." I said, "Me too".

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Well, all night long that noise kept on,

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And the sound would chill you right to the bone.

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The bullets and the bombs and the mortar shells

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      Shook our bed ev'ry time one fell and it never let up.

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It was gonna get worse     before it got any better.

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Well, when the sun came up, the noise died down.

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We got a few minutes sleep and we were sleepin' sound.

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Then a soldier knocked on our door and said,

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Last night they brought in 7 dead and 14 wounded.

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And would we come down to the base hospital and see the boys.        Yeah.

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So, we went to the hospital ward by day

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     And ev'ry night we were singin' away.

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Then the shells and the bombs till dawn again,

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And the helicopters brought in the wounded men.

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Night after night, day after day, comin' and goin'.

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So, we sadly sang for them our last song

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     And reluctantly we said, "So long."

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We did our best to let 'em know that we care

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For ev'ry last one of  'em that's over there.

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Wether we belong over there or not,

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Somebody over here loves 'em and needs 'em.

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Well, now, that's about all that there is to tell

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About that little trip into livin' hell.

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And if  I ever go back over there anymore,

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I hope there's none of our boys there for me to sing for.

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I hope that war is over with

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And they all come back home to stay           in peace.