Help Needed - Vietnam War Era Pilot Song

wanttaja

wanttaja

En-Route
Joined
Jun 7, 2008
Messages
4,829
Location
Seattle
Display Name
Display name:
Ron Wanttaja
I have a section on my web page that gives the background for many of the popular pilots' songs of the Army and Air Force. Got an email from a woman who's recent widow. Her husband was a warrant officer, and a helicopter pilot in Vietnam during the war.

She remembers her husband and her friends singing a song called "Saigon O Saigon." My guess is this was a commercial tune with the lyrics changed....pretty typical.

Anyway, she's looking for the modified lyrics, the ones her husband and their friends used to sing. All she can remember is a line going, "Captains and Majors with their thumbs up their ****...."

Anybody know this song? Can anybody provide the full lyrics?

Ron Wanttaja
 
Sorry never heard a song with that line .
 
The tune is supposedly "Sweet Betsy From Pike." Pretty common in several books on the war.


Saigon, Oh, Saigon's a hell of a place.
The organization is a ****ing disgrace.
There are captains and majors and light colonels, too.
With there thumbs up their asses and nothing to do.
They sit on the runway, the scream and they shout,
About many things they know nothing about.
For all of their worth they might as well be
Shoveling **** on the South China Sea.

Some use different cities than Saigon, but the lyrics are about the sane.

Alternate verses:

They stand on the runways; the scream and they shout.
About many things they know nothing about.
For all they're doing; they might as well be;
Cutting grass skirts on the isle of Capri.

The UTT's coming, we're way out of bounds.
Everyone knows we're a damned bunch of clowns.
We shoot up rice paddies and brag about torque.
And everyone thinks he's a damned Sergeant York.

There are lots of such songs in Appendix 7 of Col. James W. Booth's Returing Fire: In the Beginning.
 
Last edited:
flyingron said:
The tune is supposedly "Sweet Betsy From Pike." Pretty common in several books on the war.
Click to expand...

Ah, it was a title issue. The group "In Country" titled this "Saigon Warrior." I actually have a copy....

Thanks, Ron!

Ron
 
I bet a cheeseburger w/ ketchup and mayonnaise on it that @Shepherd has a few better ones! :D
 
Apparently, the song wasn't unique to Viet Nam. Some additional searching shows that it was retooled from a song from WWII with different place names.
 
Fighting soldiers, from the sky
Fearless men, who jump and die
Men who fight to save the day
The brave men, of the Green Beret

Silver wings upon his chest
These are men, America's best
Men who fight to save the day
The brave men of the Green Beret
 
Last edited:
Or,
"Here's to old (fill in base name), one Hell of a place
The way that's it run is a f**king disgrace
With Captains and Majors and Light Colonels too
All running around with nothing to do
They stand on the flight line, they scream and they shout
About all the things they know nothing about
For all the good that they do they might as well be
A shoveling sh*t on the Isle of Capri

Heard it at Kadena, Udorn, Norton, Andrews, lot's of places, over several decades.
 
Last edited:
Nanananana nninteen, nana nineteen, Saigon
 
High above the best, high above the best...
 
There is always "Iron Man". You heard it everywhere.
I often played/sang "Purple Haze" during missions.

Another favorite:
"There was a young lady so pretty and small.
She married a man who had no balls at all.
No ball at all, no balls at all.
A very short penis and no balls at all!"

Lots of verses to that one.

My GIB and I used to sing this to the tune of "Yellow Submarine" (chorus and one verse only. I won't do the entire song)
"We drop bombs on civilians in Hanoi, civilians in Hanoi, civilians in Hanoi."
"We drop bombs on civilians in Hanoi, civilians in Hanoi, civilians in Hanoi."
"And the bombs are all aboard, going to a place we can't avoid."
"Flying through the stormy skies, to a place where we will die."
"We drop bombs on civilians in Hanoi, civilians in Hanoi, civilians in Hanoi."
"We drop bombs on civilians in Hanoi, civilians in Hanoi, civilians in Hanoi."

There were about 100 verses. We'd make them up as we went along. Most had nothing at all to do with combat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top