One mornin' at breakfast I said to my wife "We've been everywhere once and some places twice" As I had another helpin' of country ham She said, "We ain't never been to Vietnam There's a bunch of our boys over there" So, we went to the Orient, Saigon
Well, we got a big welcome when we drove in Through the gates of a place that they call Long Ben We checked in and everything got kinda quite But a soldier boy said, "Just wait 'til tonight Things get noisy, things start happening' Big bad firecrackers"
Well, that night we did about four shows for the boys And they were livin' it up with a whole lot of noise We did our last song for the night Then we crawled into bed for some peace and quite But things weren't peaceful and things weren't quite Things were scary
Well, for a few minutes June never said one word And I thought at first that she hadn't heard Then a shell exploded not two miles away She sat up in bed and I heard her say, "What was that?" I said "That was a shell or a bomb" She said, "I'm scared", I said, "Me too"
Well, all night long that noise kept on And the sound would chill you right to the bone The bullets and the bombs and the motor shells Shook our bed every time one fell and it never let up It was gonna get worse before it got any better
Well when the sun came up the noise died down We got a few minutes sleep and we were sleepin' sound Then a soldier knocked on our door and said "Last night we brought in seven dead and fourteen wounded" And would we come down to the base hospital And see the boys, yeah
So we went to the hospital ward by day And every night we were singin' away Then the shells and the bombs 'til dawn again And the helicopters brought in a wounded man Night after night, day after day, comin' and a goin'
So we sadly sang for them our last song And reluctantly we said so long We did our best to let them know that we cared For every last one of them it's over there Whether we belonged over there or not Somebody over here loves them and needs them
Well, now that's about all there is to tell About that little trip into livin' hell And if I ever go back over there anymore Hope there's none of our boys there for me to sing for I hope that war's over with and they all come back home To stay in peace
Read more: Johnny Cash - Singing In Vietnam Talking Blues Lyrics | MetroLyrics