Lyr/Chords Req: Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Lyndon Johnson told the natio
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 07 Feb 00 - 04:51 PM

I've got 'Politics': verses 4 and 5 above are not on it, he only sings four verses. And please - who is Martha Raye? (Managed to drag up a memory of Ronald Reagan, though ...) - Susanne

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Lyndon Johnson told the natio
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Feb 00 - 09:55 PM

in the late eighties when paxton rerecorded lbj on politics live, he used the alternate version mentioned above.

Subject: Lyr Add: LYNDON JOHNSON TOLD THE NATION - 2
From: raredance
Date: 06 Feb 00 - 09:50 PM

Apparently Tom Paxton messed around with the lyrics to his song also. The following lyrics are attributed to Paxton and printed in the book "Songs of Peace Freedom and Protest" by Tom Glazer (1970. These words are significantly different from the ones in the DT. The DT set of lyrics are the ones that Paxton recorded on his "Ain't that News" album. I have no information on the chronology of the two versions. There may be some clues in the people and events mentioned and the release date of the album, i.e. if events mentioned in this version clearly occurred after the album was recorded then this is the more recent version. If they all could be placed before the album, then perhaps the album version was revised from this one. I think the album version is better written in that it is more general and contains fewer references to potentially dated people and events. Maybe Tom always considered it one of his short shelf life songs that he was constantly changing in concert performances.

rich r

LYNDON JOHNSON TOLD THE NATION - 2

(Tom Paxton, 1965 and 1968 Deep Fork Music)

I got a letter from LBJ
That said, "This is your lucky day,
It's time to put your khaki trousers on.
We've got a job for you to do,
Dean Rusk has caught the Asian flu
And we are sending you to Vietnam

And Lyndon Johnson told the nation,
"Have no fear of escalation,
I am trying every one to please.
Tho' it isn't really war,
We're sending fifty thousand more
To help save Vietnam from Vietnamese

The sent me to some swampy hole,
We went out on night patrol,
Just who was who was very hard to tell,
With Martha Raye and thirteen mayors,
Half of Congress, six ball players
And Ronald Reagan yelling, "Give 'em hell!"

It didn't take us very long
To run into the Viet Cong We had our loyal allies to count on
And as the bullets danced around,
I though I heard the thundering sound
Of loyal allies half way to Saigon.

The word came from the very top
That soon the shooting war would stop,
The pockets of resistance were so thin
There just remained some troubled spots,
Like Vietnam, Detroit, and Watts
And Bobby Kennedy and Ho Chi Minh.

So here I sit in this rice paddy
Wondering about Big Daddy
An I know that Lyndon love me so,
I'm one of the chosen men
But somehow I remember when
He told me that I'd never have to go.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Lyndon Johnson told the natio
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 02 Feb 00 - 10:58 PM

That's wonderful, rich! Did you ever send it to Tom?

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Lyndon Johnson told the natio
From: Susan A-R
Date: 01 Feb 00 - 10:28 PM

Was just trying to remember the name of this one for the Songs of the Vietnam Era thread not 5 minutes ago. Cosmic :>) Thanks, I'll have to go back and listen to that again.

Susan A-R

Subject: Lyr Add: ESCALATION LULLABY (Paxton, et al.)
From: raredance
Date: 01 Feb 00 - 10:25 PM

Long about 1970 or so I was singing in a duo with a friend who could actually sing and play the guitar. We somewhat updated Paxton's classic song and managed to perform if with positive effect a couple times. Nixon was president then and we were making incursions into Cambodia, so we had to make it current. Below is our version of what we affectionately called "The Escalation Lullaby". With apologies to Tom Paxton

ESCALATION LULLABY
(original words and music by Tom Paxton, new words and arrangement by R Roehrdanz & F Schuetze)

Well I got a letter from Tricky Dicky
Said southeast Asia's getting sticky
It's time to don your khaki pants again
Though it may seem very queer
We have no jobs to give you here
So we're sending you from Saigon to Pnom Penh.

CH
Richard Nixon told the nation,
I won't rush deescalation
I am trying every one to please
I'm trying to win this bloody war,
I've just brought home a thousand more
We've helped save Viet Nam from Vietnamese

I jumped off the old troop ship
And sank in mud up to my hip
I cussed until the captain called me down
Never mind how hard it's raining
Think of all the ground we're gaining
Even though it's not in Viet Nam

CH

Every night the local gentry
Slip out past the sleeping sentry
The go out to join the old VC
In their little nightly dramas
They put on their black pajamas
And come lobbing mortar shells at me.

CH

We go round in helicopters
Like a bunch of big grasshoppers
Searching for the Viet Cong in vain
They left a note that they had gone
They heard us coming in the dawn
Then they vanished in the jungle once again.

CH

Now I heard it just the other night
How Nixon says we have to fight
In Operation Total Victory
Our generals jumped and cheered with glee
We've got to keep south Asia free
And Melvin Laird was shouting "Give 'em Hell!" (Hello Richard, it's the old Richard
Who's come back to show us some of his old tricks)

Have no fear said Richard Nixon
No one knows just how I'm fixin'
To end this bloody war in Viet Nam,
I'll tell you if I'm reelected
Of the plan that I've perfected
But meanwhile we shall have to kill and bomb.

Well here I sit in this rice paddy
Wondering about big daddy
And I know that Nixon loves me so.
(Nixon loves me this I know
Spiro Agnew told me so)
Yet how sadly I remember
In that long ago November
When he said I'd never have to go.
(What a friend we have in Nixon
Gosh all golly what a pal, what a pal
I think Richard Nixon has beans in his ears
Beans in his ears, beans in his ears,
I think Richard Nixon has beans in his ears)

Now Richard Nixon tells the nation
What Lyndon Johnson told the nation
Have no fear of escalation
I am trying every one to please
The invasion of another land
Is just defending our command
We've got to help save Viet Nam from Vietnamese.

In case it wasn't obvious, the bridges used the tunes: "Hello Dolly", "Jesus Loves Me", "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" and "Beans In My Ears".

rich r

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Lyndon Johnson told the natio
From: BK
Date: 01 Feb 00 - 12:03 AM

I use the minor chords - just kinda felt 'em out, rather than learned from an authorative source; pretty much as above; good song to help teach yerself 3 finger pickin; all goes fairly straightforeward except in the transition from E back to F in the middle of the chorus you just have to change the base run a little from the typical notes you'd use coming off an E in the key of Am, & it works fine.

Cheers, BK

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Lyndon Johnson told the natio
From: GUEST,_gargoyle
Date: 31 Jan 00 - 11:39 PM

You can tune your instrument to whatever is convenent....even "slide guitar".....no matter where you start it ....it is still a simple I/IV

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Lyndon Johnson told the natio
From: Terry Allan Hall
Date: 31 Jan 00 - 08:35 AM

Once, again I messed up the format, but hopefully y'all can figure it out...my profession is "Folk-singer", not "computer whiz"...

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Lyndon Johnson told the natio
From: Terry Allan Hall
Date: 31 Jan 00 - 08:32 AM

Actually, these are the chord changes:

Verse: Am........Dm.......
//// //// //// ////

Am...E....Am.......
//// //// //// ////

Am........Dm.......
//// //// //// ////

Am...E....Am.......
//// //// //// ////

Chorus: F.........C........
//// //// //// ////
Dm........Am.......
//// //// //// ////
Am...E....Am.......
//// //// //// ////
F....C....Dm...Am..
//// //// //// ////
Am...E....Am.......
//// //// //// ////

From "Songs of Peace, Freedom, and Protest"

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Lyndon Johnson told the natio
From: GUEST,Pogo
Date: 31 Jan 00 - 12:45 AM

In Sing Out it was printed

Dm Am Dm etc.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Lyndon Johnson told the natio
From: GUEST,_gargoyle
Date: 31 Jan 00 - 12:39 AM

You can click here: LETTER FROM LBJ but it is best to learn the DT search system.

The song is essentially at two chord song.....alternating between the 1 and 4 chords (the chorus can slip into a very brief 5 chord but it is not necessary)

IE....key of C would be C and F
OR...key of G would be G and C

The lines basically alternate:

C - I got a letter from LBJ
F - Saying this is your lucky day
C - Its time to put your khaki trousers on

C - Though it isn't really war
F - We're sending etc. etc.

Probably, the first real "protest" song I learned....got it from the Los Angeles Free Press and the chords were easy.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Lyndon Johnson told the natio
From: Bugsy
Date: 31 Jan 00 - 12:20 AM

It's in the DT under "letter to LBJ"

Cheers

bugsy

Subject: Lyndon Johnson told the nation
From: GUEST,George David
Date: 31 Jan 00 - 12:17 AM

Anyone know how to play this songs?