《Bummer(LP版)》歌词

[00:00:00] Bummer (失败) (LP版) - Harry Chapin

[00:01:52] His mama was a midnight woman

[00:01:56] His daddy was a drifter drummer

[00:02:00] One night they put it together

[00:02:03] Nine months later came the little black bummer

[00:02:09] He was a laid back lump in the cradle

[00:02:13] Chewing the paint chips that fell from the ceiling

[00:02:17] Whenever he cried he got a fist in his face

[00:02:21] So he learned not to show his feelings

[00:02:34] He was a pig-tail puller in grammer school

[00:02:38] Left back twice by the seventh grade

[00:02:42] Sniffing glue in junior high

[00:02:45] And the first one in school to get laid

[00:02:51] He was a w**d-speed pusher at fifteen

[00:02:55] He was mainlining skag a year later

[00:02:59] He'd started pimping when they put him away

[00:03:02] In jail he changed from a junkie to a hater

[00:03:08] And just like the man from the precinct said

[00:03:12] Put him away you better kill him instead

[00:03:16] A bummer like that is better of dead

[00:03:19] Someday they're gonna have to put a bullet in his head

[00:03:31] They threw him back on the street he robbed an A and P

[00:03:34] He didn't blink at the buddy that he shafted

[00:03:38] And just about the time they would have caught him too

[00:03:42] He had the damn good fortune to get drafted

[00:03:55] He was a-one bait for vietnam

[00:03:59] You see they needed more bodies in a hurry

[00:04:02] He was a cinch to train cause all they had to do

[00:04:06] Was to figure how to funnel his fury

[00:04:12] They put him in a tank near the D M Z

[00:04:15] To catch the gooks slipping over the border

[00:04:19] They said his mission was to search and destroy

[00:04:23] And for once he followed and order

[00:04:37] One sweat-soaked day in the yung-po valley

[00:04:41] With the ground still steaming from the rain

[00:04:44] There was a bloody little battle that didn't mean nothing

[00:04:48] Except to the few that remained

[00:04:52] You see a couple hundred slants

[00:04:54] Had trapped the other five tanks

[00:04:56] And had started to pick off the crews

[00:04:59] When he came on the scene and it really did seem

[00:05:03] This is why he'd paid those dues

[00:05:07] It was something like a butcher going berserk

[00:05:11] Or a sane man acting like a fool

[00:05:14] Or the bravest thing that a man had ever done

[00:05:18] Or a madman blowing his cool

[00:05:22] Well he came on through like a knife through butter

[00:05:26] Or a scythe sweeping through the grass

[00:05:29] Or to say it like the man would have said it himself

[00:05:33] Just a big black bastard kicking a**

[00:05:37] And just like the man from the precinct said

[00:05:41] Put him away you better kill him instead

[00:05:44] A bummer like that is better of dead

[00:05:48] Someday they're gonna have to put a bullet in his head

[00:06:08] When it was over and the smoke had cleared

[00:06:11] There were a lot of VC bodies in the mud

[00:06:15] And when the rescued men came over for the very first time

[00:06:18] They found him smiling as he lay in his blood

[00:06:25] They picked up the pieces and they stitched him back together

[00:06:28] He pulled through though they thought he was a goner

[00:06:31] And it force them to give him what they said they would

[00:06:35] Six purple hearts and the medal of honor

[00:06:45] Of course he slouched as the chief white honkey said

[00:06:49] Service beyond the call of duty

[00:06:53] But the first soft thought was passing through his mind

[00:06:56] My medal is a mother of a beauty

[00:07:06] He got a couple of jobs with the ribbon on his chest

[00:07:09] And though he tried he really couldn't do 'em

[00:07:13] There was only a couple of things that he was really trained for

[00:07:17] And he found himself drifting back to 'em

[00:07:31] Just about the time he was ready to break

[00:07:34] The VA stopped sending him his checks

[00:07:38] Just a matter of time 'cause there was no doubt

[00:07:41] About what he was going to do next

[00:07:46] It ended up one night in a grocery store

[00:07:50] Gun in hand and nine cops at the door

[00:07:53] And when his last battle was over

[00:07:57] He lay crumpled and broken on the floor

[00:08:01] And just like the man from the precinct said

[00:08:05] Put him away you better kill him instead

[00:08:08] A bummer like that is better of dead

[00:08:12] Someday they're gonna have to put a bullet in his head

[00:08:31] Well he'd breathed his last but ten minutes past

[00:08:35] Before they dared to enter the place

[00:08:38] And when they flipped his riddled body over they found

[00:08:42] His second smile frozen on his face

[00:08:48] They found his gun where he'd thrown it

[00:08:52] There was something else clenched in his fist

[00:08:55] And when they pried his fingers open

[00:08:57] They found the medal of honor

[00:08:59] And the sergeant said where in the hell he get this

[00:09:09] There was a stew about burying him in arlington

[00:09:12] So they shipped him in box to fayette

[00:09:16] And they kind of stashed him in a grave in the county plot

[00:09:20] The kind we remember to forget

[00:09:25] And just like the man from the precinct said

[00:09:30] Put him away you better kill him instead

[00:09:34] A bummer like that is better of dead

[00:09:38] Someday they're gonna have to put a bullet in his head