Hieronder vindt u de tekst en een YouTube-filmpje van dit protestlied tegen de Vietnam-oorlog uitgebracht door Bill Joel in 1982 (van zijn LP The Nylon Curtain). Het lied beschrijdft de situatie en houding van de Amerikaanse mariniers beginnende bij hun opleiding op Parris Island tot in de verschillende aspecten van de Vietnam-oorlog.
Als je het YouTube-filmpje bekijkt, zet dan vooral in het begin de luidsprekers van je computer op maximum volume. Het kenmerkende geluid van de rotorbladen van de Bell UH-1 Huey helikopter – hét beeld van de Vietnam-oorlog; de helikopter waar de Amerikaanse soldaten zo naar uitkeken omdat het de enige mogelijkheid was om op een snelle manier verlost te worden uit de groene, dodelijke jungle onder hen; voor de Noord-Vietnamese en Viet Cong soldaten betekende het geluid een alarmsignaal voor komend onheil – is onvergetelijk.
“We met as soul mates
On Parris Island
We left as inmates
From an asylum
And we were sharp
As sharp as knives
And we were so gung ho
To lay down our lives
We came in spastic
Like tameless horses
We left in plastic
As numbered corpses
And we learned fast
To travel light
Our arms were heavy
But our bellies were tight
We had no home front
We had no soft soap
They sent us Playboy
They gave us Bob Hope
We dug in deep
And shot on sight
And prayed to Jesus Christ
With all of our might
We had no cameras
To shoot the landscape
We passed the hash pipe
And played our Doors tapes
And it was dark
So dark at night
And we held on to each other
Like brother to brother
We promised our mothers we’d write
And we would all go down together
We said we’d all go down together
Yes we would all go down together
Remember Charlie
Remember Baker
They left their childhood
On every acre
And who was wrong?
And who was right?
It didn’t matter in the thick of the fight
We held the day
In the palm
Of our hand
They ruled the night
And the night
Seemed to last as long as six weeks
On Parris Island
We held the coastline
They held the highlands
And they were sharp
As sharp as knives
They heard the hum of the motors
They counted the rotors
And waited for us to arrive
And we would all go down together
We said we’d all go down together
Yes we would all go down together”
Hieronder een YouTube-filmpje met de clip van “Goodnight Saigon”
