Lyndon Johnson Told The Nation chords by Tom Paxton

Artist: Tom Paxton
Title: Lyndon Johnson told the nation

Capo on the 7th Fret



Am
I got a letter from L.B.J
   Dm
It said, "This is your lucky day"
     Am                E7            Am    E7
It's time to put your khaki trousers on
Am
Though it may seem very queer
      Dm
We've got no jobs to give you here
   Am             E7          Am
So we are sending you to Vietnam

     F              C
And Lyndon Johnson told the nation
 Dm               Am
Have no fear of escalation
             E7           Am
I am trying everyone to please
F                C
Though it isn't really war
 Dm                 Am
We're sending fifty thousand more
              E7                 Am    E7
To help save Vietnam from Vietnamese



I jumped off the old troop ship
And sank in mud up to my hips
I cussed until the captain called me down
Never mind how hard it's raining
Think of all the ground we're gaining
Just don't take one step outside of town

And Lyndon Johnson told the nation
Have no fear of escalation
I am trying everyone to please
Though it isn't really war
We're sending sixty thousand more
To help save Vietnam from Vietnamese

Every night the local gentry
Slip out past the sleeping sentry
They go to join the old V.C.
In their nightly little dramas
They put on their black pajamas
And come lobbing mortar shells at me

And Lyndon Johnson told the nation
Have no fear of escalation
I am trying everyone to please
Though it isn't really war
We're sending seventy thousand more
To help save Vietnam from Vietnamese

We go round in helicopters
Like a bunch of big grasshoppers
Searching for the Viet Cong in vain
They left a note that they had gone
They had to get down to Saigon
Their government positions to maintain

Well, here I sit in this rice paddy
Wondering about Big Daddy
And I know that Lyndon loves me so
Yet how sadly I remember
Way back yonder in November
When he said I'd never have to go

And Lyndon Johnson told the nation
Have no fear of escalation
I am trying everyone to please
Though it isn't really war
We're sending a hundred thousand more