Bummer

Annotation

The song "Bummer" (Elektra Records # 7E-1041) described a young man who got involved in crime, selling drugs and working in prostitution. But he was then drafted to war, fought and received a medal, and then struggled to readjust to society in the aftermath. It began with the draft call: "he was A-1 bait for Vietnam". Note the reference to "1-A" - the classification for those "eligible for military service", established in 1971 (under the Military Selective Service Act of 1967).1 The narrator then described the man's activities in Vietnam: "mission was to Search and Destroy....to catch the gooks". He received the Purple Heart and the Congressional Medal of Honor. Back home after the war, the veteran got some jobs on the back of his military honors, but the narrator recalled him being financially cut-off from the Veteran's Administration: "the V.A. stopped sending...cheques". The song concluded with the veteran returning to what he knew best, crime - by robbing a grocery store. Chapin - born in New York City (7 December 1942), he died in Jericho, New York on 16 July 1981. Sources1Called to Serve: Draft classifications during the Vietnam War (archived copy)↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: He was a weed-speed pusher at fifteen, he was mainlining skag a year later / He'd started pimping when they put him away / In Jail he changed from a junkie to a hater... / A bummer like that is better of dead... / Had the damn good fortune to get drafted... / He was A-1 bait for Vietnam, you see they needed more bodies in a hurry / He was a cinch to train cause all they had to do was to figure how to funnel his fury / They put him in a tank near the D.M.Z. to catch the gooks slipping over the border / They said his mission was to Search and Destroy and for once he followed and order... / When it was over and the smoke had cleared, there were a lot of VC bodies in the mud / And when the rescued men came over for the very first time, they found him smiling as he lay in his blood... / It forced them to give him...six purple hearts and the Medal of Honor... / He got a couple of jobs with the ribbon on his chest... / Though he tried he really couldn't do 'em / There was only a couple of things that he was really trained for and he found himself drifting back to 'em / Just about the time he was ready to break the V.A. stopped sending him his checks / Just a matter of time 'cause there was no doubt about what he was going to do next / It ended up one night in a grocery store, gun in hand and nine cops at the door

About the artist

American singer-songwriter, born 7 December 1942 in New York City; died 16 July 1981 in Jericho, New York. [Source: Wikipedia]

In collections

Draft Songs