Send The Marines
by Tom Lehrer
From the album: That Was the Year That Was
Track 6 of 14 on That Was the Year That Was (1965).
Duration: 1:45
Lyrics for Send The Marines
(Introduction, spoken:) What with President Johnson practicing escalatio on the Vietnamese, and then the Dominican crisis on top of that, It has been a nervous year, and people have begun to feel Like a Christian Scientist with appendicitis. Fortunately, In times of crisis like this, America always has its number One instrument of diplomacy to fall back on. Here's a song about it: When someone makes a move Of which we don't approve, Who is it that always intervenes? U.N. and O.A.S., They have their place, I guess, But first - send the Marines! We'll send them all we've got, John Wayne and Randolph Scott; Remember those exciting fighting scenes? To the shores of Tripoli, But not to Mississippoli, What do we do? We send the Marines! For might makes right, And till they've seen the light, They've got to be protected, All their rights respected, Till somebody we like can be elected. Members of the corps All hate the thought of war; They'd rather kill them off by peaceful means. Stop calling it aggression, Ooh, we hate that expression! We only want the world to know That we support the status quo. They love us everywhere we go, So when in doubt, Send the Marines!