I got drafted at 19
Me and a bunch of boys from home
January 43, drove out to Pine Bluff and signed on
Went to basic south of Birmingham
Put me on west coast bound train
Spent three days out in San Diego
And they shipped me back east again
Left a port out of New York
Slept for months in British rain
Tore it up down in London town
And they shipped me back out again
The preacher said Boys he who is killed tonight will dine with the Lord in Paradise
One boy spoke up, said preacher come on, eat your supper with us
Never talk about those first days
Lots of friends left behind
But I made it all the way across France
And I fought at the Maginot line
Road a tank into Belgium
Like them better than the French
Like my daddy, thirty years before
I did my time in a trench
Lots of days theres no water
But the liquor kept me warm
The cellars were stocked to the ceiling with booze
So I carried a bottle with my gun
The preacher said Boys he who is killed tonight will dine with the Lord in Paradise
One boy spoke up, said preacher come on, eat your supper with us
Three times I made sergeant
Im not that kind of man
And pretty much just as quick as I could
I get busted back to private again
Cause taken orders never suited me
Giving them out was much worse
I could not stand to get my friends killed
So I took care of myself first
Now I know that dont sound right
Dont think too bad of me
Now it keeps me up nights
What I could have done differently
The preacher said Boys he who is killed tonight will dine with the Lord in Paradise.
One boy spoke up, said preacher come on, eat your supper with us
Id be no guest at the table of the Lord
His food was not to be mine
Cause I cursed His name every chance that I could
And I recon thats why Im still alive
It's interesting the sentiment of the American populace during the early 20th century wars versus the late 20th century wars and early 21st century wars.
I have to wonder if the critics of the early 20th century wars were "silenced" somehow... like the early American communists, socialists and anarchists were. Were the American people really as behind the olden day wars as our high school history books would tell us?
I never remember a mention of Kropotkin, or Goldman, or any revolutionary non American way of life hero. I mean of course the books had all the heroes of the American Revolution, Paul Revere, George Washington, Ben Franklin, and all the Texas heroes (and god dammit yes I still regard them as heroes) Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, Sam Houston...
But I feel very uneasy that I was never taught in school about the Sandanista's in Nicaragua or the Batista's in Cuba, or the Basque in Spain, I had to learn about them on my own.
Why is it only considered terrorism whenever it isn't a legitimate government killing people?
The Nazi's were never considered terrorists even though they put people in concentration camps, burned them in ovens, performed sick medical experiments on them and god knows what else. But they were never considered terrorists.
Why are Palestinians considered terrorists for fighting to get back their homes that were stolen by the Zionists? Yet, when Isreal kills thousands of civilians in Lebanon or the Palestinian territories are simply reciprocating for a few rockets that exploded in the country side?
Now I in no way approve of Saddam Hussein for instance, and believe that taking him out of power was a good thing. But if you know anything about 20th century middle eastern history, we put him in power and so were technically responsible for what he did as the leader of Iraq, so we rightly were responsible for removing him.
But if we had never fucked the middle east like we did in the mid 20th century, none of this shit would even exist today. I'm certain. America just has to stick it's fucking nose in other peoples business so it can get ahead.
You look at our economy. Downslide, partly due to capitalism being a failed ideology, but also corruption. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. And since 1992, the good ole' U.S. of A. was the only absolute power around, and look where we are now, not even twenty years later. America had competition with the U.S.S.R. for almost a century, and I was born during that time, shortly after the Iranian hostages were released. And we can't even last 17 years as the only unchecked super power? Hell Rome did better than we did.
Yes, it has been 17 years since the Soviet Union fell (granted it was conducting communism completely wrong)
But not even a decade after the fall of our "mortal enemy" for reasons that are still unknown to me besides oil... Soviet Union fell in 1992... I was 9... World Trade centers had passenger planes crash into them in 2001, whenever I was 18, and the same year I graduated high school. We couldn't even protect the heart of America, New York City for at least ten years.
Oh there is something terribly wrong with this country... and though I do believe that Barack Obama's leadership will slow the decline... while I am positive he can fix things, I'm not positive that he can change minds in a mere four years. So I am worried that he will not have the time to do what he needs to do.
And with that. We are in a sad state of affairs. Where can I get a one way ticket to Europe?
I fear that the United States may soon turn into 1940-1944 France... and being a liberal in Texas... I'd be one of the first to go
Me and a bunch of boys from home
January 43, drove out to Pine Bluff and signed on
Went to basic south of Birmingham
Put me on west coast bound train
Spent three days out in San Diego
And they shipped me back east again
Left a port out of New York
Slept for months in British rain
Tore it up down in London town
And they shipped me back out again
The preacher said Boys he who is killed tonight will dine with the Lord in Paradise
One boy spoke up, said preacher come on, eat your supper with us
Never talk about those first days
Lots of friends left behind
But I made it all the way across France
And I fought at the Maginot line
Road a tank into Belgium
Like them better than the French
Like my daddy, thirty years before
I did my time in a trench
Lots of days theres no water
But the liquor kept me warm
The cellars were stocked to the ceiling with booze
So I carried a bottle with my gun
The preacher said Boys he who is killed tonight will dine with the Lord in Paradise
One boy spoke up, said preacher come on, eat your supper with us
Three times I made sergeant
Im not that kind of man
And pretty much just as quick as I could
I get busted back to private again
Cause taken orders never suited me
Giving them out was much worse
I could not stand to get my friends killed
So I took care of myself first
Now I know that dont sound right
Dont think too bad of me
Now it keeps me up nights
What I could have done differently
The preacher said Boys he who is killed tonight will dine with the Lord in Paradise.
One boy spoke up, said preacher come on, eat your supper with us
Id be no guest at the table of the Lord
His food was not to be mine
Cause I cursed His name every chance that I could
And I recon thats why Im still alive
It's interesting the sentiment of the American populace during the early 20th century wars versus the late 20th century wars and early 21st century wars.
I have to wonder if the critics of the early 20th century wars were "silenced" somehow... like the early American communists, socialists and anarchists were. Were the American people really as behind the olden day wars as our high school history books would tell us?
I never remember a mention of Kropotkin, or Goldman, or any revolutionary non American way of life hero. I mean of course the books had all the heroes of the American Revolution, Paul Revere, George Washington, Ben Franklin, and all the Texas heroes (and god dammit yes I still regard them as heroes) Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, Sam Houston...
But I feel very uneasy that I was never taught in school about the Sandanista's in Nicaragua or the Batista's in Cuba, or the Basque in Spain, I had to learn about them on my own.
Why is it only considered terrorism whenever it isn't a legitimate government killing people?
The Nazi's were never considered terrorists even though they put people in concentration camps, burned them in ovens, performed sick medical experiments on them and god knows what else. But they were never considered terrorists.
Why are Palestinians considered terrorists for fighting to get back their homes that were stolen by the Zionists? Yet, when Isreal kills thousands of civilians in Lebanon or the Palestinian territories are simply reciprocating for a few rockets that exploded in the country side?
Now I in no way approve of Saddam Hussein for instance, and believe that taking him out of power was a good thing. But if you know anything about 20th century middle eastern history, we put him in power and so were technically responsible for what he did as the leader of Iraq, so we rightly were responsible for removing him.
But if we had never fucked the middle east like we did in the mid 20th century, none of this shit would even exist today. I'm certain. America just has to stick it's fucking nose in other peoples business so it can get ahead.
You look at our economy. Downslide, partly due to capitalism being a failed ideology, but also corruption. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. And since 1992, the good ole' U.S. of A. was the only absolute power around, and look where we are now, not even twenty years later. America had competition with the U.S.S.R. for almost a century, and I was born during that time, shortly after the Iranian hostages were released. And we can't even last 17 years as the only unchecked super power? Hell Rome did better than we did.
Yes, it has been 17 years since the Soviet Union fell (granted it was conducting communism completely wrong)
But not even a decade after the fall of our "mortal enemy" for reasons that are still unknown to me besides oil... Soviet Union fell in 1992... I was 9... World Trade centers had passenger planes crash into them in 2001, whenever I was 18, and the same year I graduated high school. We couldn't even protect the heart of America, New York City for at least ten years.
Oh there is something terribly wrong with this country... and though I do believe that Barack Obama's leadership will slow the decline... while I am positive he can fix things, I'm not positive that he can change minds in a mere four years. So I am worried that he will not have the time to do what he needs to do.
And with that. We are in a sad state of affairs. Where can I get a one way ticket to Europe?
I fear that the United States may soon turn into 1940-1944 France... and being a liberal in Texas... I'd be one of the first to go