z+Big+Time+In+the+Jungle

Down in Eutaw, Alabama in 1965 A young man ‘bout 21, no different than you or I He’s catchin’ catfish, and gettin’ drunk But Uncle Sam called, he called him up Sent him out to Vietnam That young man Got his life turned upside down Turned his smile into a frown Robbed that king of his crown For an ideal he didn’t even know about

He was gamblin’ at the wagon when that army man showed up And he flashed that pen and paper And ol’ Flukie he signed up There’s gonna be a big time in the jungle Gonna be a firefight Gonna be a rumble Send me out to Vietnam I’ll fight ten men I got nothin’ left in the States for me I wanna see the world you see I know that Uncle Sam needs me To fight for an ideal I know nothing about

Oh the drop point was dusty and the drill sergeant was loud And he could not see the corpses for the ragin’ dust cloud Grab your duffle bags, head to the checkpoint Welcome to Vietnam, boys, you’re in for a hell of a fight Take it from the ones who know The army moves slow Hurry up and wait, don’t sleep late And learn to hate your brother Before you hate your foe

On patrol out in the rice fields, them choppers flew low Glancing for the hand signal to tell you where to go Then the bombs started fallin’ And they pounded his brain And he thought about Eutaw and who was to blame For sendin’ him to Vietnam

- Old Crow Medicine Show

– I chose this song because after listening to it I felt that it really told about how men eligible to be drafted were sent out into the war, without much of a clue about what they were being sent into. – I feel the message of this song was to tell people about how the war wasn't good, and that the men who were drafted were thrown into this mess without a clear understanding of it. Also I feel that it told of how the men who were actually in Vietnam wanted to come home because they saw the terrible things that the war brought. – This song I feel could have been a way to provoke people to take action against the war. This is because it tells of how our soldiers wanted to come home, and how our boys were just being thrown out there. Also it could have been used to anger people about how people thought that it would be so great to fight for our country, but that once they were in the war they thought differently once they saw the bad things about it. – I think that if a parent of a soldier who was drafted heard this song it might anger them. This is because in certain verses llike, //Then the bombs started fallin’ And they pounded his brain,// it might make them feel like they want to come home from the war, even more; because no parents would want their child to be in life threatening situations, even if they did have no choice in the matter. __"back to"Songs of the Vietnam Era"__