Our boys are standing tall out there
Full of guts and pride
Except the ones who can't stand up
The ones who went and died
Knew a guy was crazy keen
To have a piece of land
Now he's got six feet of earth
In far-off Vietnam
Poor wayfarin' stranger
Rambling through the town
Draft board sent him overseas
And laid that poor boy down
Our boys are standing tall and proud
And some are lying flat
The honoured guests at barbecues
Where only worms get fat
Joe Baker talked of raising wheat
Under Kansas skies
Now shoots of rice are growing
From the sockets of his eyes
Knew a guy from Fresno
A Chicano poor as dirt
Now he's lying in a ditch
With a medal on his shirt
Our boys are standing tall and proud
Sons of Uncle Sam
Bringing the 'merican way of life
To backward Vietnam
Big Bill, a black from Harlem
Demanded equal rights
He got 'em when they buried him
With half a dozen whites
Knew a certain traveller
Came from Arkansas
Travelled straight into his grave
In Nixon's dirty war
Our boys are standing tall and proud
Rifles in their hands
Wondering why the hell they're fighting
In this foreign land
To help United Steel survive
Kovalski fought and bled
The shareholders are doing fine
But Joe Kovalski's dead
Black kid from Atlanta
Serving Uncle Sam
Died for General Motors
In the fields of Vietnam
Knew a guy from Texas
Name of Billy Doyle
Died in the Mekong Delta
Defending Standard Oil
The white man drafts the black man
To fight the yellow guy
To defend the red man's land he stole
Way back in the by and by
Our boys are standing tall and proud
Piling up the dead
And with every peasant hut they burn
The east glows deeper red
Full of guts and pride
Except the ones who can't stand up
The ones who went and died
Knew a guy was crazy keen
To have a piece of land
Now he's got six feet of earth
In far-off Vietnam
Poor wayfarin' stranger
Rambling through the town
Draft board sent him overseas
And laid that poor boy down
Our boys are standing tall and proud
And some are lying flat
The honoured guests at barbecues
Where only worms get fat
Joe Baker talked of raising wheat
Under Kansas skies
Now shoots of rice are growing
From the sockets of his eyes
Knew a guy from Fresno
A Chicano poor as dirt
Now he's lying in a ditch
With a medal on his shirt
Our boys are standing tall and proud
Sons of Uncle Sam
Bringing the 'merican way of life
To backward Vietnam
Big Bill, a black from Harlem
Demanded equal rights
He got 'em when they buried him
With half a dozen whites
Knew a certain traveller
Came from Arkansas
Travelled straight into his grave
In Nixon's dirty war
Our boys are standing tall and proud
Rifles in their hands
Wondering why the hell they're fighting
In this foreign land
To help United Steel survive
Kovalski fought and bled
The shareholders are doing fine
But Joe Kovalski's dead
Black kid from Atlanta
Serving Uncle Sam
Died for General Motors
In the fields of Vietnam
Knew a guy from Texas
Name of Billy Doyle
Died in the Mekong Delta
Defending Standard Oil
The white man drafts the black man
To fight the yellow guy
To defend the red man's land he stole
Way back in the by and by
Our boys are standing tall and proud
Piling up the dead
And with every peasant hut they burn
The east glows deeper red
inviata da Bernart Bartleby - 7/5/2018 - 11:02
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Parole di Ewan MacColl su melodia tradizionale ("Lynchburg Town")
Nel disco “At The Present Moment” (1973), con Peggy Seeger
Testo trovato su Mudcat Café
Una canzone che mi pare molto significativa e che finora c’era sfuggita… “Il bianco arruola il nero per combattere il giallo, per difendere la terra che ha rubato al rosso...”