Lyrics:

Dave Alvin/Chris Gaffney
(Blue Horn Toad Music, BMI/Calhoun Street Music/Ensaga Songs, BMI, Administered by Bug Music)


Johnny gave Joe his first cigarette
And Joe lit the filter and then he smoked the whole pack
And Joe bought all the gas in Johnny's old Ford
He always said that's what friends were for.

When Johnny married Tina, Joe married Dee
Two blonde-haired sisters from Covington, Kentucky
And in ‘67 Johnny joined the Corps
Joe did too, but he never knew what for.

And tonight in this barroom he's easin' his pain
He's thinkin' of someone, but he won't say the name
Folks say he's a hero, but he'll tell you he ain't
He left a hero in the jungle back in 1968.

Johnny went from job to job tryin' to make ends meet
And Tina divorced him back in ‘83
Now thirty years come and thirty years go
And Johnny's got a grandkid that he barely knows.

And tonight in this barroom he's easin' his pain
He's thinkin' of someone, but he won't say the name
Folks say he's a hero, but he'll tell you he ain't
He left a hero in the jungle back in 1968.

Well Dee calls Johnny every now and then
And talks about her children and her third husband
But when he asks about someone they used to know
Dee says, “Johnny that was so long ago.”

Tonight in this barroom he's easin' his pain
He's thinkin' of someone, but he won't say the name
Folks say he's a hero; he'll tell you ain't
He left a hero in the jungle back in 1968
He left a hero in the jungle back in 1968.