Lyndon Johnson told the Nation

[catmandu57]

(Tom Paxton)

Lyndon Johnson told the nation, have no fear of esculation
I am trying everyone to please
Though it really isn't war, we're sending fifty thousand more
To help save Vietnam from Vietnamese

I got a letter from LBJ it said, This is your lucky day
Time to put your khaki trousers on
We've got a job for you to do,Dean Rusk has caught the asian flu
And we're sending you to Vietnam

We landed in a swampy hole, we went out on a night patrol
Just who was who was very hard to tell
With Martha Raye or thirteen mayors, half of congress, six ball players
And Ronald Reagan yelling give em hell
more much more

It's so striking to me that by changing LBJ to *, Vietnam to Iraq it's like deja vu all over again. Tom Paxton wrote this song back in the sixties, if you've never heard it do yourself a favor and listen to it.

[yardwork]

1. A lot of old songs are taking on new relevance today.

Somebody posted the lyrics to Dylan's "Desolation Row" the other day.

It's time to give "Masters of War" another close listen.

[Toby109]

2. Heard "Games People Play"

by Joe South

Oh the games people play now
Every night and every day now
Never meaning what they say now
Never saying what they mean

And they wile away the hours
In their ivory towers
Till they're covered up with flowers
In the back of a black limousine

Chorus
La-da da da da da da da
La-da da da da da de
Talking 'bout you and me
And the games people play

Oh we make one another cry
Break a heart then we say goodbye
Cross our hearts and we hope to die
That the other was to blame

Neither one will give in
So we gaze at our eight by ten
Thinking 'bout the things that might have been
It's a dirty rotten shame

Repeat Chorus

People walking up to you
Singing glory hallelulia
And they're tryin to sock it to you
In the name of the Lord

They're gonna teach you how to meditate
Read your horoscope, cheat your faith
And further more to hell with hate
Come on and get on board

Repeat Chorus

Look around tell me what you see
What's happening to you and me
God grant me the serenity
To remember who I am

Cause you've given up your sanity
For your pride and your vanity
Turns you sad on humanity
And you don't give a da da da da da

Repeat Chorus

*My sister turned to me and said(paraphrasing), "Wow, that really fits in today".

[latebloomer]

3. Hey, I remember that!

Great song.

[riverwalker]

4. I keep thinking of Eve of Destruction

and how nothing has really changed.
And even the Tigris River has bodies floatin'