Language   

Napalm Sticks To Kids

The Covered Wagon Musicians
Language: English


List of versions


Related Songs

Texas Tweezers
(Abbie Hoffman)
Children Of The Delta
(The Covered Wagon Musicians)
Who'll Stop The Rain?
(Creedence Clearwater Revival)


[1972]
From "We Say No To Your War!"
wesayno
Collectively written by Air Force and Army GIs attached to the 1st Air Cavalry in Vietnam.
Recited by Sgt. John Boychuk.

Una canzone terribile, di quelle cantate dai massacratori della "cavalleria" aerea così bene disegnati da Francis Ford Coppola in "Apocalypse Now"... Non avrei postato il testo se non lo avessi trovato come brano incluso in "We Say No To Your War!" con la seguente spiegazione:

A group of Air Force and Army GIs assigned to the 1st Air Cavalry sat down one night in a hootch in Vietnam to write these words. Each person made a verse about an incident in which he had taken part, and the poem expresses their collective bitterness toward the military that had turned them into murderers. They agreed they would not rest until somehow it was published.

One man, Sgt. Mike Elliot, returned from Vietnam to the Mountain Home Air Force Base, and the poem was published in Volume 1, Number 1 of the Covered Wagon Newspaper, Helping Hand. It has been reprinted in scores of GI newspapers all over the world, probably the most widely quoted poem to come from the GI movement.

Sergeant John Boychuk, who recites it here, is a veteran of Air Force activity in Vietnam. After joining the Wagon, John arranged for a three-week leave so that he could meet with his former "enemies" in Paris. He spent a week in conference with veterans of the war from Cambodia, Laos, the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, and North Vietnam. He is possibly the only active-duty GI to ever do so.
We shoot the sick, the young, the lame,
We do our best to kill in nam
Because the kills all count the same,
Napalm sticks to kids.

Flying low across the trees,
Pilots doing what they please,
Dropping frags on refugees,
Napalm sticks to kids.

It made us feel right good inside
When the strongmen left and the women cried
But what we really did like was when the children cried
Napalm sticks to kids

CIA With Guns for hire
Montagnards around a fire
Napalm makes that fire higher
Napalm sticks to kids

Children sucking on a mothers tit
Gooks down in a .50 pit
Dow Chemical doesn't give a shit
Napalm sticks to kids

Attack some kids when you go downtown
By throwing some candy on the ground
Then grease them when they gather round
Napalm sticks to kids

A squad of cong in the grass
But all the fighting long since past
Crispy critters in a mass
Napalm sticks to kids

LOH's ought to have a blast
Drop some Peon kids emasse
Send the remains to the chief of staff
Napalm sticks to kids

Oxcarts rolling down the road
Peasants with a heavy load
They're all VC when the bombs explode
Napalm sticks to kids

Shooting women's lots of fun
try killing one thats pregnant son
You'll get two for the price of one
Napalm sticks to kids

Flying low and feeling mean
see that family by the stream
Drop some napalm n hear them scream
Napalm sticks to kids

See that gook on his knees
Lost some flechette in the breeze
Find his arms nailed to the trees
Napalm sticks to kids

NVA are all hardcore
Flechettes nail them to the jungle floor
Throw them psyops out the door
Napalm sticks to kids

18 kids in a no-fire zone
Books under arms and going home
Last in line goes home alone
Napalm sticks to kids

Chucks in a sampan sitting in the stern
But he don't think his boat'll burn
Them fucking gooks will never learn
Napalm sticks to kids

See some kids jump and shout
Drop some napalm without a doubt
Watch them try and put it out
Napalm sticks to kids

I've been around, Some things I've seen
But the people who are mighty mean
The gooks you kill, they make you clean
Napalm sticks to kids

I've only seen it twice
But both times, it was mighty nice
Shooting peasants planting rice
Napalm sticks to kids

Napalm,son, is lots of fun
Dropped from a bomb or shot from a gun
It gets the gooks when they're on the run
Napalm sticks to kids

Some people say its not so neat
to watch gooks burning in the street
but burning flesh smells mighty neat
Napalm sticks to kids

Gooks in the open, making hay
I can almost hear those gunships say
"They'll be no Chieu Hois today"
Napalm sticks to kids

Shoot some civilians where the sit
Take some pictures as you split
All your life, you'll remember it
Napalm sticks to kids

They'se in good shape for the shape they'se in
But they'se no way that they can win
With Napalm rolling down their skin
Napalm sticks to kids

Contributed by Alessandro - 2008/11/14 - 09:32


May anybody explain to me this lyric : "CIA with guns for" ? What does it means ? Why the CIA ?

Antoine - 2016/1/2 - 17:10


I think it refers to secret operations conducted by the CIA in Vietnam before 1964, like Operation 34A
In addition, the weapons supply to anticommunist fighters as Hmongs and Montagnards was a common policy for the CIA in those years.

B.B. - 2016/1/3 - 03:09


Thanks a lot

Antoine - 2016/1/25 - 19:38


There's a verse missing when he says but what we really did like was when the children cried

War - 2016/4/7 - 05:57




Main Page

Please report any error in lyrics or commentaries to antiwarsongs@gmail.com

Note for non-Italian users: Sorry, though the interface of this website is translated into English, most commentaries and biographies are in Italian and/or in other languages like French, German, Spanish, Russian etc.




hosted by inventati.org