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My Children

by Jack Warshaw

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It was a self-searching, desperate, stressful, explosive, time for choosing the patriotic duty to help bring about an end to the Vietnam war. It took its toll on hundreds of thousands of young exiled and imprisoned men. I hoped my children would one day ask me about it. They never did. They just learned about it from their history lessons, which weren't the whole truth..

lyrics

My Children
© Jack Warshaw 2009

My children never asked what it was like for me
I thought somehow that they might want to know
Why they called me up to go and fight in Vietnam
And why I said “Hell no I won’t go”

They were born in peacetime, grew up and went to school
Where they learned about the war in history
In their exercise books they wrote the names and dates and places
But they never asked what it was like for me

No they never asked just how it felt to face arrest and jail
Or how it did torment my family
Will they understand the duty to defy an evil law
And battle for your country’s enemy

So many times when I wished I could set their minds at ease
Though it's hard to remember an old war
But now we hear of young men out in Afganistan
Who wonder what the hell they’re fighting for

Some laws may protect us but others are to blame
For causing so much pain and misery
My kids must live their own lives, that much I understand
But perhaps they’ll ask what it was like for me.

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released February 20, 2013
Music and Lyrics - Jack Warshaw

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Jack Warshaw UK

Veteran of the 1960s folk revival, he passionately believes, writes and sings with authenticity and respect for traditional American styles and song carriers. He has met, learned from or worked with such legends as Pete, Mike and Peggy Seeger, Tom Paley, Ewan MacColl, Bob Dylan, Mississippi John Hurt, Clarence Ashley, Dave Van Ronk, Stuart Burns and many others. Watch Youtube. Bio on Wikipedia ... more

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