Agent Orange

Kate Wolf

Compositor: Kate Wolf

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