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Cold Chisel - Khe Sanh

Cold Chisel - Khe Sanh Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Cold Chisel
Released: 1978

Khe Sanh Lyrics

I left my heart to the sappers round Khe Sanh
And my soul was sold with my cigarettes to the black market 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-day heroes in 1973
How we sailed into Sydney Harbor
Saw an old friend but 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, till 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, pay packet lean
And the telex writers clattered where the gunships once had been
But the car parks made me jumpy
And I never stopped the dreams
Or the growing need for speed and Novocaine

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

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

You know the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone
Only seven flying hours, and I'll be landing in Hong Kong
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
Yeah the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone
And it's really got me worried
I'm goin' nowhere and I'm in a hurry
And the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone

Writer/s: DON WALKER
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Khe Sanh

The group is Australian. This was written by their keyboard player, Don Walker. It documents the life of a returned Vietnam veteran. After serving in the war, he fails to fit into society anymore. It is also about the restlessness of youth.

This is a "Bar room classic" in Australia. Somewhere, sometime, this will be either played by the bar band or come on the jukebox, and 90% of the crowd will all sing along and know most of the words. It is also heavily played on Australian classic rock radio stations.

This was Cold Chisel's first single and debut album. It was remixed and included on the US version of the album East in 1981. (thanks, Brad - Brisbane, Australia, for all above)

"Khe Sanh" was named the greatest Australian song of all time in a mid-2007 countdown on the Max channel. (thanks, sean - melbourne, Australia)