Agent Orange - Country Joe McDonald

I was 17, just a teenage kid, the year that I enlisted

I can’t remember why I did, my mom said I insisted

I had some strange idea then, that Uncle Sam was right

Oh, momma cried, but she signed the card, and then I went off to fight

Got off the plane in Vietnam, it didn’t seem like war

With all I saw I started to wonder what I had come there for

Some officers got drunk at night, and cheated on their wives

And the peasants on the other side, were just struggling for their lives

Oh the army tried some fancy stuff, to bring them to their knees

Like Agent Orange defoliant, to kill the brush and trees

We’d hike all day on jungle trails through clouds of poison spray

And they never told me then that it would hurt my health today

But I got the news this morning, yeah, the doctors told me so

They killed me in Vietnam, and I didn’t even know

I tried hard to forget the war like everybody did

Settled down, got married, even had a couple of kids

Well, my children both had birth defects and the doctors had their doubts

They never could understand it, but I think I figured it out

Because I got the news this morning, yea, the doctors told me so

They killed me in Vietnam, and I didn’t even know

This Agent Orange from Vietnam, we carry it with us still

It stays inside for years and years before it starts to kill

You might get cancer of the liver;

you might get cancer of the skin

You can file for disability, but you might not live to win

Oh, I got the news this morning, yeah, the doctors told me so

They killed me in Vietnam, and I didn’t even know

Oh, the doctor said I got some time, trying to be kind

I’ve never been a radical, but this has changed my mind

Oh, I’d be so proud to hear my kids say, «Hell no I won’t go

Because you killed my dad in Vietnam, and he didn’t even know.»

Yes, I’d be so proud to hear my kid say, «Hell no I won’t go

Because you killed my dad and he didn’t even know.»