THE AGENT ORANGE BLUES
(With Apologies to "The Summertime Blues", but using the same tune!)
1:
I'm a gonna raise a fuss, I'm a gonna raise a holler,
' Cos me mates are dyin' and we're left without a dollar.
Well, we called the Government with some kind of hope.
" You shouldn't have joined, if you couldn't take a joke!"
Sometimes I wonder what I'm a gonna do,
' Cos there ain't no cure for the Agent Orange Blues.
2:
My bowels keep me runnin', I got polyps on me colon,
White-cells are multiplyin' an' me lymphs are goin' bowlin'.
I asked the bloody Medics for some chemo or some rads,
The Doc says "No dice... you're a Vet an' that's too bad".
Sometimes I wonder what I'm a gonna do,
' Cos there ain't no cure for the Agent Orange Blues.
3:
In a year or so, gonna get a great mutation
In me lungs or me liver - what a hopeless situation!
I'll say that ol' dioxin was the cause - and its a farce,
The Pension Board 'll tell me - to stick it up me arse!
Sometimes I wonder what I'm a gonna do,
' Cos there ain't no cure for the Agent Orange Blues.
4:
We went to New York to seek a big Class-Action,
The lawyers and Monsanto put the bastard into traction.
They made a lump-sum payment in place of their defence,
We all got a Dollar - and Forty-seven Cents !
Sometimes I wonder what I'm a gonna do,
' Cos there ain't no cure for the Agent Orange Blues.
5:
I ain't afraid of suffrin' an' I ain't afraid of dyin',
But I can't stand injustice, and greedy buggers lyin'.
The stone above my coffin will tell them who I am,
" This boy died o' cancer 'cos he went to Viet Nam."
Sometimes I wonder what I'm a gonna do,
' Cos there ain't no cure for the Agent Orange Blues.