Big Time in the Jungle

Down in Eutaw, Alabama in 1965

A young man 'bout 21

No different than you or I

He's catchin' catfish

And gettin' drunk

But Uncle Sam called

He called him up

Sent him out to Vietnam

That young man

Got his life turned upside down

Turned his smile into a frown

Robbed that king of his crown

For an ideal he didn't even know about

He was gamblin' at the wagon

When that army man showed up

And he flashed that pen and paper

And Old Flukie, he signed up

There's gonna be a big time in the jungle

Gonna be a firefight

Gonna be a rumble

Send me out to Vietnam

I'll fight ten men

I got nothing left in the States for me

I wanna see the world, you see

I know that Uncle Sam needs me

To fight for an ideal I know nothing about

Oh, the drop point was dusty

And the drill sergeant was loud

And he could not see the corpses

For the ragin' dust cloud

Grab your duffle bags

Head to the checkpoint

Welcome to Vietnam, boys

You're in for a hell of a fight

Take it from the ones who know

The army moves slow

Hurry up and wait, and don't sleep late

And learn to hate your brother

Before you hate your foe

On patrol out in the rice fields

Them choppers flew low

Glancin' up for the hand signal

To tell you where to go

Then the bombs started fallin'

And the pounded his brain

And he thought about Eutaw

And who was to blame

For sendin' him to Vietnam