My mama prayed, she said please let that kingdom come
She said, please let it be an ending to the war, please
Settle in Vietnam, my girlfriend got a boyfriend fighting
She don't know when that man coming back home
I said I hope he'll stay forever, cuz I ain't gonna leave
That girl alone, it's a shame...taking the young people
Out of the United States, taking them over to Vietnam
And they've got to stay, Uncle Sam does trenches
He does then way over in no man's land, Uncle Sam...
Little girl tell me, did he take your man?
She said, please let it be an ending to the war, please
Settle in Vietnam, my girlfriend got a boyfriend fighting
She don't know when that man coming back home
I said I hope he'll stay forever, cuz I ain't gonna leave
That girl alone, it's a shame...taking the young people
Out of the United States, taking them over to Vietnam
And they've got to stay, Uncle Sam does trenches
He does then way over in no man's land, Uncle Sam...
Little girl tell me, did he take your man?
Contributed by dq82 - 2016/11/4 - 10:57
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Hopkins recorded the song "Please Settle in Viet Nam" in Berkeley, California, under the direction of Chris Strachwitz (the founder of the Californian label Arhoolie Records), on 20 May 1969, for the session which produced the album Lightnin' (Poppy Records # PYS-60,002). But the song did not appear on the album. Strachwitz released "Please Settle in Viet Nam" on this single (Joliet # 205) and then later on the album Lightning Hopkins in Berkeley (Arhoolie # 1063). (1) Hopkins wanted to see "an ending to the war" and called on the government to settle the Vietnam issue. It also included a little twist. Hopkins said that his girlfriend actually had a man fighting in the war, and that he hoped "he'll stay forever" in the army, because he did not "want to leave that girl". This idea is similar to the "jody" theme - a mythical man in blues and jazz tunes who seduced the wives and girlfriends of soldiers, prisoners, and those away from home. In this case, the narrator played the role of the "jody". Hopkins used this same line in an earlier track, "War Is Starting Again", from the 1962 album Lightnin' Strikes (Vee-Jay Records # LP-1044).
Vietnam War Songs Project