Next to the "Fixin' to Die Rag", the best Anti-Nam song has to be



The Ballad Of Penny Evans (Steve Goodman)

"Oh my name is Penny Evans and I just turned twenty-one
A young widow in the war that's being fought in Viet Nam
And I have two infant daughters and I do the best I can
Now they say the war is over, but I think it's just begun.

And I remember I was seventeen on the day I met young Bill
At his grandma's grand piano, we'd play good old 'Heart and Soul'
Well, I only knew the left hand part and he the right so well
He's the only boy I ever slept with, and the only one I will.

It's first we had a baby girl and we had two good years
It was next the 1A notice came and we parted without tears
And it was nine months from our last good night our second babe appears
And it's ten months and a telegram confirming all our fears.

And now every month I get a check from some Army bureaucrat
And it's every month I tear it up and I mail the damn thing back.
Do you think that makes it all right, do you think I'd fall for that ?
You can keep your bloody money, sure won't bring my Billy back.

Well, I never cared for politics, speeches I don't understand,
And likewise never took no charity from any living man
But tonight there's fifty thousand gone in that unhappy land
And fifty thousand 'Heart and Soul's' being played with just one hand.

And my name is Penny Evans and I've just gone twenty-one
A young widow in the war that's being fought in Viet Nam
And I have two infant daughters and I thank God I have no sons
Now they say the war is over, but I think it's just begun."



I don't know, now even daughters are getting served up as fodder in this current one. Does anybody who was of draft age back then remember how our generation was going to change things when we got in control of the world, and keep shit like this from ever happening again? Sometimes I don't know whether to be angry, humbled, ashamed, or just embarrassed at the way we failed in keeping our word when it comes to old promises like those.

Sorry bout the thread drift, but yesterday here in our little town of 7000 souls, they buried a 24 year old Marine corporal who fell in Iraq, same age as my only son, and it just leaves you feeling....empty.
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