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 lashed that pen and paper, and ol' Flukie, he signed up It'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 nothin' 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, 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' for the hand signal to tell you where to go Then the bombs started fallin' and they pounded his brain And he thought about Eutaw, and who was to blame For sendin' him to Vietnam