Khe Sanh

(album: Cold Chisel - 1978)

I left my heart to the sappers round Khe Sanh
And I sold my soul with my cigarettes to the blackmarket man
I've had the Vietnam cold turkey
From the ocean to the Silver City
And it's only other vets could understand

About the long forgotten dockside guarantees
How there were no V-dayheroes in 1973
And how we sailed into Sydney Harbour
I saw an old friend but I couldn't kiss her
She was lined, and I was home to the lucky land

And she was like so many more from that time on
Their lives were all so empty, until they found their chosen one
And their legs were often open
But their minds were always closed
And their hearts were held in fast suburban chains
And the legal pads were yellow, hours long, paypacket lean
And the telex writers clattered where the gunships once had been
And car parks made me jumpy
And I never stopped the dreams
Or the growing need for speed and novacaine

So I worked across the country from end to end
I tried to find a place to settle down, where my mixed up life could mend
I held a job on an oil-rig
Flying choppers when I could
But the nightlife nearly drove me round the bend

And I've travelled round the world from year to year
And each one found me aimless, one more year the worse for wear
And I've been back to South East Asia
You know the answer sure ain't there
But I'm drifting north, to check things out again

Well the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone
You know there's seven flying hours, and I'll be landing in Hong Kong
And there ain't nothing like the kisses
From a jaded Chinese princess
I'm gonna hit some Hong Kong mattress all night long

Well the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone
You know the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone
And it's really got me worried
I'm going nowhere and I'm in a hurry
You know the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone

Well the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone
You know the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone
And it's really got me worried
I'm going nowhere and I'm in a hurry
You know the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone