Agent Orange

I was 17 when I quit school

The year that I enlisted

I don’t recall just why I did

My mom says I insisted

I had some strange idea then

That Uncle Sam was right

Momma cried, she signed the card

And I went off to fight

But I just found out this morning

The doctor told me so

They killed me in Vietnam

And I didn’t even know

Got off the plane in Vietnam

It didn’t look like war

With all I saw I started wonderin’

What we came there for

Some officers got drunk at night

And cheated on their wives

While those peasants on the other side

Were fightin’ for their lives

You know the army tried some fancy stuff

To bring them to their knees

Like Agent Orange defoliants

To clear the brush and trees

They fly all day above the trails

Through clouds of poison spray

But they never said that chemicals

Would hurt our health today

But I got the news this morning

The doctor told me so

They killed me in Vietnam

And I didn’t even know

Well I tried hard to forget

That war like everybody else did

I settled down, got married

And I even had some kids

Our children both had birth defects

The doctors had their doubts

They never said what caused it

But I think I just found out

Because I just found out this morning

Yeah, the doctor told me so

They killed me in Vietnam

And I didn’t even know

The doctor says I have some time

He was trying to be kind

Your know I’ve never been a radical

But this has changed my mind

I’d be so proud to hear my son say

Hell no, we won’t go

Because you killed our dad in Vietnam

And he didn’t even know

This Agent Orange from Vietnam

We carry with us still

Stays inside for years and years

It does its best to kill

You might get cancer of the liver

You might get cancer of the skin

You might get a VA disability

You might not live to win

Because I got the news this morning

The doctor told me so

They killed me in Vietnam

And I didn’t even know

They killed me in Vietnam

And I didn’t even know