Tom Paxton - Lyndon Johnson Told The Nation Acoustic Chords

Em                              Am
I got a letter from LBJ it says this is your lucky day,
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it`s time to put your khaki trousers on.
Am
Though it may be very queer, we’ve got no jobs to give you here,
Em                B7          Em
so we are sending you to Vietnam.
Chorusd
C                        G              Am    G
Lyndon Johnson told the nation, have no fear of escalation,
B7                  Em
I am trying everyone to please.
C                G                       Am          Em
Though it is t really war, we`re sending 50,000 more,
B7                        Em
to help save Vietnam from Vietnamese.
Em                              Am
I jumped off the old troop ship, I sank in mud up to my hips,
Em                     B7               Em          E7
I cursed it till the captain called me down.
Am                         Em
Never mind how hard it`s raining, look at all the ground we`re gaining,
Em                   B7               Em
just don`t take one step outside the town.

C                        G              Am    G
Lyndon Johnson told the nation, have no fear of escalation,
B7                  Em
I am trying everyone to please.
C                G                       Am          Em
Though it is t really war, we`re sending 60,000 more,
B7                        Em
to help save Vietnam from Vietnamese.

Em                                 Am
Every night the local gentry slip out past the sleeping sentry,
Em                 B7         Em
they go out to join the old V C.
Am                               Em
And in their nightly little dramas, they put on their black pyjamas,
Am                 B7              Em
and come launching mortar shells at me.

C                        G              Am    G
Lyndon Johnson told the nation, have no fear of escalation,
B7                  Em
I am trying everyone to please.
C                G                       Am          Em
Though it is t really war, we`re sending 70,000 more,
B7                        Em
to help save Vietnam from Vietnamese.

Em                                      Am
We go round in helicopters like a bunch of big grasshoppers,
Em               B7           Em          E7
hunting for the Vietcong in vain.
Am                                   Em
They left a note that they had gone, they had to get back to Saigon,
Em    B7                      Em
their government positions to maintain.

C                        G              Am    G
Lyndon Johnson told the nation, have no fear of escalation,
B7                  Em
I am trying everyone to please.
C                G                       Am          Em
Though it is t really war, we`re sending 80,000 more,
B7                        Em
to help save Vietnam from Vietnamese.

Em                                       Am
Here I sit in this rice-paddy, wondering about Big Daddy,
Em              B7              Em           E7
and I know that Lyndon loves me so.
Am                      Em
Yet how sadly I remember, way back yonder in November,
Am                       B7                 Em
when he said I`d never have to go.

C                        G              Am    G
Lyndon Johnson told the nation, have no fear of escalation,
B7                  Em
I am trying everyone to please.
C                G                       Am          Em
Though it is t really war, we`re sending 100,000 more,
B7                        Em
to help save Vietnam from Vietnamese.