Digital Tradition Mirror

Draft Dodger Rag

Draft Dodger Rag
(Phil Ochs)

I'm just a typical American boy from a typical American town
I believe in God and Senator Todd and keeping old Castro down
And when it came my time to serve I knew better dead than red
But when I got to my old draft board, buddy, this is what I said:

     Sarge, I'm only eighteen, I got a ruptured spleen
       And I always carry a purse
     I got eyes like a bat, my feet are flat, and my asthma's
       getting worse
     O think of my career, my sweetheart dear, and my poor old
       invalid aunt
     Besides, I ain't no fool, I'm a goin' to school, and I'm
       working in a defense plant

I've got a dislocated disc and a racked up back
  I'm allergic to flowers and bugs
And when bombshells hit, I get epileptic fits
  And I'm addicted to a thousand drugs
I got the weakness woes, I can't touch my toes
  I can hardly touch my knees
And if the enemy came close to me
  I'd probably start to sneeze

I hate Chou En Lai, and I hope he dies,
  but one thing you gotta see
That someone's gotta go over there
  but that someone isn't me
So I wish you well, Sarge, give 'em Hell
  Yeah kill me a thousand or more
And if you ever get a war without blood and gore
  Well I'll be the first to go

Copyright Appleseed Music, Inc.
recorded by Pete Seeger on Dangerous Songs

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!

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