Lyrics:

King Henry marched forth, a sword in his hand
Two thousand horsemen all at his command
In a fortnight the rivers ran red through the land
The year fifteen hundred and twenty
The year it is now nineteen sixty-five
It's easier far to stay half-alive
Just keep your mouth shut while the planes zoom and dive
Ten thousand miles over the ocean
Simon was drafted in sixty-three
In sixty-four, sent over the sea
Last month this letter he sent to me
He said 'You won't like what I'm sayin''
He said 'We've no friends here, no hardly a one
We've got a few generals who just want our guns
But it'll take more than that if we're ever to win
Why we'll have to flatten the country'
'It's my own troops I have to watch out for', he said
'I sleep with a pistol right under my head'
He wrote this last month, last week he was dead
And Simon came home in a casket
I mind my own business, I watch my T.V.
Complain about taxes but pay anyway
In a civilized manner my forefathers betrayed
Who long ago struggled for freedom
But each day a new headline screams at my bluff
On T.V. some general says 'We must be tough'
In my dreams I stare at this family I love
All gutted and spattered with napalm
King Henry marched forth, a sword in his hand
Two thousand horsemen all at his command
In a fortnight the rivers ran red through the land
The year fifteen hundred and twenty
The year it is now nineteen sixty-five
It's easier far to stay half alive
Just keep your mouth shut while the planes zoom and dive
Ten thousand miles over the ocean