GOD HELP US LYNDON
©1999 - music and words by John R. Black, ℗ 42nd Street Music Seattle
Bundy and McNamara
Westmoreland and Lodge
Ready fire aim
Out on the streets of Dodge
The boys in Hanoi
Ho Chi Minh and Giap
Want those B52s
To stop droppin' so much crap
There is no stalemate
You told the press today
We're winning on all fronts
In that war far away
We need 3 billion more dollars
To kill more Viet Cong
But the CIA says Hanoi
Will just keep fightin' on
(Chorus A:)
God help us Lyndon
We better negotiate
God help us Lyndon
The NVA won't wait
God help us Lyndon
The cities are in distress
God help us Lyndon
The country's a mess
The secret talks in Paris
Started the end of June
But no one seemed to think
The war would be over soon
You said I won't run again
And Humphrey's my guy
But Nixon won the election
And everyone knew why
(Chorus B:)
God help us Lyndon
They're rioting tonight
God help us Lyndon
Vietnam ain't right
God help us Lyndon
Got a setback in space
God help us Lyndon
The economy's a disgrace
You were a human puzzle
We'll never quite understand
Your great assault on poverty
Benefited every man
Vietnam was a morass
Draggin' everybody down
But Civil Rights and Voting Rights
Put men on common ground
(Chorus A, Chorus B)
Song inspired by Flawed Giant: LBJ and his times, 1961-1973, Robert Dallek,
Oxford University Press, 1998