The Agent Orange Song
Country Joe McDonald

From The Request Page

I'm a Vietnam Vet (71-72) and had never heard this song.
I have agent orange and my son was born with
birth defects. Never got a dime from the VA
nor anyone said we're sorry.

Finger picking mostly arpegios

Intro E B A E

E                B
I was 17, just a teenage kid, 
A                 E
The year that I enlisted.
                 B
I can’t remember why I did, 
   A                   E
My mom said that I insisted.
  A                 E
I had some strange idea then, 
  (walk down to)    B
That Uncle Sam was right.
    E                   B
Oh momma cried, but she signed 
                   A              E
the card, And then I went off to fight.

                     B
Got off the plane in Vietnam, 
   A                E
It didn’t seem like war.
                 B
With all I saw I started to wonder 
     A                E
what I had come there for.
     A            E
Some officers got drunk at night,
     A         F#m   B
and cheated on their wife’s.
        E               B
And the peasants on the other side,
           A                    E
where just struggling for their lives.

                       B
Oh the army tried some fancy stuff, 
                        E
to bring them to their knees.
                  B
Like Agent Orange defoliant, 
   A                  E
to kill the brush and tress.
     A                E
We’d hike all day on jungle trails, 
        A         F#m    B
through clouds of poison spray.
         E              B
And they never told me then, 
        A                    E
that it would hurt my health today.

A                       E
But I got the news this morning, 
          A  G#m          B
yeah, the doctors told me so.
     E             B
They killed me in Vietnam,
    A              E
and I didn’t even know.
                     B
Now I tried hard to forget the war 
     A         E
like everybody did.
                  B
Settled down, got married
     A               E
even had a of couple kids.

        A                 E
Well my children both had birth defects,
        A           F#m   B
and the doctors had their doubts.
     E           B
They never could understand it, 
      A                  E
but I think I figured it out.
        A                 E
cause I got the news this morning,
                          B
yeah, the doctors told me so.
     E              B
They killed me in Vietnam, 
      A           E
and I didn’t even know.

                       B
This Agent Orange from Vietnam,
                     E
we carry it with us still.
                     B
It stays inside for years and years 
A           F#m     E
before it starts to kill.
              A             E
You might get cancer of the liver; 
              F#m           B
you might get cancer of the skin.
        E             B
You can file for disability, 
        A                 E
but you might not live to win.

     A        F#m       E
Oh I got the news this morning yeah,
    A       F#m     B
the doctors told me so. 
     E             B
They killed me in Vietnam, 
       A          E
and I didn’t even know.
                     B
Oh the doctor said I got some time, 
A            E
trying to be kind.
                  B
I’ve never been a radical,
                        E
but this has changed my mind.
       
       A     F#m      E
Oh I’d be so proud to hear my kids 
    B     
say hell no I won’t go,
            E                B
Because you killed my dad in Vietnam, 
       A           E
and he didn’t even know.
        A              E
Yes I’d be so proud to hear my kid 
                    B
say hell no I won’t go, 
            E                B
Because you killed my dad in Vietnam 
        A          E
and he didn’t even know.

flyinglibra51
God Bless Glen Travis Campbell