Bruce Springsteen - Galveston Bay

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Fifteen years Le Bing Son
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Fought side by side with the Americans
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In the mountains and deltas of Vietnam

In ’75 Saigon fell
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and he left his command
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And brought his family to the promised land

Seabrook Texas and the small towns
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In the Gulf of Mexico
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It was delta country and reminded him of home

He worked as a machinist, put his money away
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And bought a shrimp boat with his cousin
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And together they harvested Galveston Bay

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In the mornin’ ‘fore the sun come up
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He’d kiss his sleepin’ daughter
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Steer out through the channel
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And casts his nets into the water

Billy Sutter fought with Charlie Company
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In the highlands of Quang Tri
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He was wounded in the battle of Chu Lai
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And shipped home in ’68

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There he married and worked the gulf fishing grounds
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In a boat that’d been his father’s
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In the morning he’d kiss his sleeping son
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And cast his nets into the water

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Billy sat in front of his TV as the south fell
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And the Communists rolled into Saigon

He and his friends watched as the refugees came
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Settle on the same streets and worked the coast they grew up on

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Soon in the bars around the harbor was talk
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Of America for Americans
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Someone said, “You want ’em out, you got to burn ’em out”
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And brought in the Texas klan

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One humid Texas night there were three shadows on the harbor
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Come to burn the Vietnamese boats into the sea

In the fire’s light shots rang out
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Two Texans lay dead on the ground
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Le stood with a pistol in his hand

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A jury acquitted him in self defense
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As before the judge he did stand
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But as he walked down the courthouse steps
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Billy said “My friend, you’re a dead man”

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One late summer night Le stood watch along the waterside

Billy stood in the shadows
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His K-bar knife in his hand
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And the moon slipped behind the clouds

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Le lit a cigarette, the bay was as still as glass

As he walked by Billy stuck his knife into his pocket
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Took a breath and let him pass

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In the early darkness Billy rose up
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Went into the kitchen for a drink of water
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Kissed his sleeping wife
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Headed into the channel
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And casts his nets into the water
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Of Galveston Bay

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