John Doe Lyrics

There was this wise man I once knew

Who lived down my street a block or 2

In a back alley where the autumn leaves blew

A simple man with a heart so true





John Doe was a quiet man, who kept to himself and lived off the land

He panned his living with a rusty tin can

Been living off the streets since Vietnam





When Johnny came marching home

From the Vietnam war he was alone





Slapped with a label, he hid his face, the nightmare of war

Was one he couldn't erase, when Johnny came marching home

(he said) I can't let go, I can't forget





25 years later, that smell I still remember

As I watched so many young men lose their lives, on that battlefield

To Vietnam they sent us barely, old enough they placed us

On the front lines in a land we had no place...We had no place!!!





On the day I left that battlefield, I might as well have died

Because nothing in my life this far, has ever felt quite right

And each and everyday I try to pick the pieces up

But the pieces never seem to fit, the pain becomes too much





It's hard to describe, so hard to relate, it's hard letting go

When you can't escape

To think that when we came home our country turned its back

And labeled us all murderers, spit on us, spit on us and laughed





He spoke with such convicting words, I felt like I was there

A simple frail and shattered soul, the soldier never dies he sang

I thought about how it must feel to watch all your friends die

So far away so far from home, fighting wars we had no place!