A letter came today from the draft board
With trembling hands I read the questionnaire
It asked me lots of things about my mama and papa
Now that ain't what I call exactly fair
So I'm heading for the nearest foreign border
Vancouver may be just my kind of town
Because they don't need the kind of law and order
That tends to keep a good man underground
A sad old soldier once told me a story
About a battlefield that he was on
He said a man should never fight for glory
He must know what is right and what is wrong
So I'm heading for the nearest foreign border
Vancouver may be just my kind of town
Because they don't need the kind of law and order
That tends to keep a good man underground, yeah now
I don't know how much I owe my uncle
But I suspect it's more than I can pay
He's asking me to sign a three-year contract
I guess I'll catch the first bus out today
So I'm heading for the nearest foreign border
Vancouver may be just my kind of town
Because they don't need the kind of law and order
That tends to keep a good man underground
That tends to keep a good man underground
With trembling hands I read the questionnaire
It asked me lots of things about my mama and papa
Now that ain't what I call exactly fair
So I'm heading for the nearest foreign border
Vancouver may be just my kind of town
Because they don't need the kind of law and order
That tends to keep a good man underground
A sad old soldier once told me a story
About a battlefield that he was on
He said a man should never fight for glory
He must know what is right and what is wrong
So I'm heading for the nearest foreign border
Vancouver may be just my kind of town
Because they don't need the kind of law and order
That tends to keep a good man underground, yeah now
I don't know how much I owe my uncle
But I suspect it's more than I can pay
He's asking me to sign a three-year contract
I guess I'll catch the first bus out today
So I'm heading for the nearest foreign border
Vancouver may be just my kind of town
Because they don't need the kind of law and order
That tends to keep a good man underground
That tends to keep a good man underground
Contributed by Bartleby - 2011/12/21 - 11:27
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Dall’album “The Gilded Palace of Sin”
Il brano fa anche parte della colonna sonora estesa del film culto “Easy Rider” di Dennis Hopper (1969). Non compare nella soundtrack originaria ma nel secondo disco della Deluxe Edition del 2004.
Soprattutto a partire dal 1965, anno in cui si fece massiccia la coscrizione per la guerra in Vietnam, il Canada divenne un porto sicuro per gli obiettori, i renitenti e i disertori americani. Scappare dai “vicini di casa” era piuttosto facile perché il governo canadese non perdeva tempo con le procedure per lo riconoscimento dello status di rifugiati ma ammetteva tutti semplicemente con il visto di immigrazione. Si stima che i giovani statunitensi fuggiti in Canada per scampare alla guerra furono tra i 30.000 e i 60.000 ma qualcuno si spinge a calcolare un numero molto maggiore – circa 125.000 – di americani che per causa della guerra in Vietnam decisero di trasferirsi temporaneamente o permanentemente in Canada.
Il Canada era allora per chi si opponeva alla guerra un po’ come gli Stati del Nord per gli afro-americani che tra la fine del 700 e l’800 scappavano dal Sud schiavista attraverso l’“Underground Railroad”… Ai tempi nostri, per obiettori e disertori delle guerre in Iraq ed Afghanistan, non è stato più così: il Canada è direttamente coinvolto nei conflitti e le sentenze dei suoi tribunali hanno spedito indietro negli USA, soprattutto nel 2008 e 2009, molti giovani statunitensi che lì avevano richiesto rifugio per non finire ammazzati nelle guerre di Bush e di Obama…