Vietnam isn't Iraq. But the two countries have a lot in common, even though Vietnam is mostly wet and Iraq is mostly dry. And the Mississippi River isn't the Mekong River, though Pete Seeger called them both "the Big Muddy" back in the day. The Mississippi River isn't the Euphrates River either, though if you ask the residents of New Orleans they'll tell you that the Bush administration has totally, arrogantly, callously failed to protect the lives and freedoms of the people who live along the banks of both. (The Hudson River isn't the Mekong either, though a good case can be made for Pete Seeger having had a lot to do with inspiring people to insist on cleaning up the messes along the banks of both of them.)
So, in another 40-year-flashback -- in this case, a 41-year-flashback -- here are the lyrics to a seminal, controversial song that one of the archetypical icons of American folk music wrote with the Mekong in mind, a song that resonates with today's realities far more closely than it ever should have had to...
Waist Deep in the Big Muddy
by Pete Seeger
It was back in nineteen forty-two,
I was a member of a good platoon.
We were on maneuvers in-a Loozianna,
One night by the light of the moon.
The captain told us to ford a river,
That's how it all begun.
We were -- knee deep in the Big Muddy,
But the big fool said to push on.
The Sergeant said, "Sir, are you sure,
This is the best way back to the base?"
"Sergeant, go on! I forded this river
'Bout a mile above this place.
It'll be a little soggy but just keep slogging.
We'll soon be on dry ground."
We were -- waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on.
The Sergeant said, "Sir, with all this equipment
No man will be able to swim."
"Sergeant, don't be a Nervous Nellie,"
The Captain said to him.
"All we need is a little determination;
Men, follow me, I'll lead on."
We were -- neck deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool said to push on.
All at once, the moon clouded over,
We heard a gurgling cry.
A few seconds later, the captain's helmet
Was all that floated by.
The Sergeant said, "Turn around men!
I'm in charge from now on."
And we just made it out of the Big Muddy
With the captain dead and gone.
We stripped and dived and found his body
Stuck in the old quicksand.
I guess he didn't know that the water was deeper
Than the place he'd once before been.
Another stream had joined the Big Muddy
'Bout a half mile from where we'd gone.
We were lucky to escape from the Big Muddy
When the big fool said to push on.
Well, I'm not going to point any moral;
I'll leave that for yourself
Maybe you're still walking, you're still talking
You'd like to keep your health.
But every time I read the papers
That old feeling comes on;
We're -- waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.
Waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.
Waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on.
Waist deep! Neck deep!
Soon even a tall man'll be over his head!
We're -- waist deep in the Big Muddy!
And the big fool says to push on!
Pete Seeger knew the truth, and he sang the truth, and he spoke the truth to power for generations of Americans. And the truths that he has always sung and spoke about still resonate for all of us today:
If you value your freedoms, you have to work to keep them free for all.
If you love your country, you have to work to make it stay true to what you believe in.
And if you support the troops -- you have to work to bring them home *now*.
(Note:
this OP is a follow-up to
6 years in, a 40-year flashback)
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