ask not

Yeah, come on all of you, big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
So put down your books and pick up a gun
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Well, come on generals, let's move fast;
Your big chance has come at last.
Gotta go out and get those reds --
The only good commie is the one who's dead
And you know that peace can only be won
When we've blown 'em all to kingdom come.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for?
Don't ask me I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Huh!
Well come on Wall Street, don't move slow,
Why man, this is war au-go-go.
There's plenty good money to be made
By supplying the Army with the tools of the trade,
Just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb,
They drop it on the Viet Cong.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for?
Don't ask me I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Well, come on mothers throughout the land,
Pack your boys off to Vietnam.
Come on fathers, don't hesitate,
Send 'em off before it's too late.
Be the first one on your block
To have your boy come home in a box.

And it's one, two, three
What are we fighting for?
Don't ask me I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die
-------------------------------
That's a song by Country Joe and the Fish -- "Fixin' to die Rag,"
They performed it at Woodstock in 1969.
I knew that.
Country Joe wrote it in 1965.
Didn't know that -- seemed surprising to me: I didn't know people were that angry about the Vietnam war, that early.
The fact that this song got good reception at Woodstock in 1969 doesn't seem surprising -- it was then a year after President Johnson declined to run again -- "If nominated, I will not run; and if elected, I will not serve" -- but I didn't know something like that would be written as early on as 1965. ---------------------------
(In the 90s, a lobbyist once startled me by beginning to sing that song in the Senate Lobby of our state capitol building. He was sitting down on one of the leather-covered antique sofas, I think: his briefcase next to him: "And it's one-two-three, what're we fightin' for? Don't ask me I don't give-a-damn -- Next stop is Vietnam..." (Little musical notes bouncing in the air around his head...) I was like, "Hmmh, OK then..."

He sang the rest of the chorus.
Later, went on to become a judge.)
-------------------------
It was a long trip in a short time
("long strange trip," as the Grateful Dead would say)
a long ways, in only 8 years -- 1961 to 1969 -- from
"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country"
to
"Whoopee! We're all gonna die" ...
with
"Hey hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?"
chanted in between.

-30-