Philip Nel > Courses > American Studies 201: Introduction to American Studies (Spring 1998) > Selected Songs About Vietnam > "Still in Saigon"

 

Still in Saigon

(Dan Daley)

As Performed by the Charlie Daniels Band (1981)

 

Got on a plane in 'Frisco and got off in Vietnam

I walked into a different world, the past forever gone

I could've gone to Canada or I could have stayed in school

But I was brought up differently -- I couldn't break the rules

 

Thirteen months and fifteen days -- the last ones were the worst

One minute I kneel down and pray and the next I stand and cure

No place to run to where I did not feel that war

When I got home I stayed alone and checked behind each door

'Cause I'm...

 

CHORUS:

Still in Saigon,

Still in Saigon

I am still in Saigon

In my mind

 

The ground at home was covered in snow and I was covered with sweat

My younger brother calls me a killer and my daddy calls me a vet

Everybody says I'm someone else, that I'm sick and there's no cure

Damned if I know who I am -- there was only one place I was sure

When I was...

 

CHORUS

 

Every summer when it rains,

I smell the jungle, I hear the flames

I can't tell no one -- I feel ashamed

Afraid someday I'll go insane

 

That's been ten long years ago and time has gone on by

But now and then I catch myself, eyes searching through the sky

All the sounds from long ago will be forever in my head

Mingled with the wounded cries and the silence of the dead.

'Cause I'm...

 

CHORUS

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