"DRIVE ON" by Johnny Cash

[MORTARDUDE]

Artist/Band: Cash Johnny
Lyrics for Song: Drive On
Lyrics for Album: American Recordings
I got a friend named Whiskey Sam
He was my boonierat buddy for a year in Nam
He said is my country just a little off track
Took 'em twenty-five years to welcome me back
But, it's better than not coming back at all
Many a good man
I saw fall And even now,
every time I dream I hear the men
and the monkeys in the jungle scream

Drive on, don't mean nothin'
My children love me , but they don't understand
And I got a woman who knows her man
Drive on, don't mean nothin', drive on

I remember one night,
Tex and me Rappelled in on a hot L.Z.
We had our 16's on rock and roll
But, with all that fire,
was scared and cold
We were crazy, we were wild
And I have seen the tiger smile
I spit in a bamboo viper's face
And I'd be dead , but by God's grace

Drive on, don't mean nothin'
My children love me, but they don't understand
And I got a woman who knows her man
Drive on, don't mean nothin', drive on

It was a real slow walk in a real sad rain
And nobody tried to be John Wayne
I came home, but Tex did not
And I can't talk about the hit he got
I got a little limp now when
I walk Got a little tremolo when
I talk But my letter read from Whiskey Sam
You're a walkin' talkin' miracle from Vietnam

Drive on, don't mean nothin'
My children love me, but they don't understand
And I got a woman who knows her man
Drive on, don't mean nothin', drive on

[Bernadette]

My most favorite Cash jam.

ONE PIECE AT A TIME

Well, I left Kentucky back in '49
An' went to Detroit workin' on a 'sembly line
The first year they had me puttin' wheels on cadillacs

Every day I'd watch them beauties roll by
And sometimes I'd hang my head and cry
'Cause I always wanted me one that was long and black.

One day I devised myself a plan
That should be the envy of most any man
I'd sneak it out of there in a lunchbox in my hand
Now gettin' caught meant gettin' fired
But I figured I'd have it all by the time I retired
I'd have me a car worth at least a hundred grand.

CHORUS
I'd get it one piece at a time
And it wouldn't cost me a dime
You'll know it's me when I come through your town
I'm gonna ride around in style
I'm gonna drive everybody wild
'Cause I'll have the only one there is a round.

So the very next day when I punched in
With my big lunchbox and with help from my friends
I left that day with a lunch box full of gears
Now, I never considered myself a thief
GM wouldn't miss just one little piece
Especially if I strung it out over several years.

The first day I got me a fuel pump
And the next day I got me an engine and a trunk
Then I got me a transmission and all of the chrome
The little things I could get in my big lunchbox
Like nuts, an' bolts, and all four shocks
But the big stuff we snuck out in my buddy's mobile home.

Now, up to now my plan went all right
'Til we tried to put it all together one night
And that's when we noticed that something was definitely wrong.

The transmission was a '53
And the motor turned out to be a '73
And when we tried to put in the bolts all the holes were gone.

So we drilled it out so that it would fit
And with a little bit of help with an A-daptor kit
We had that engine runnin' just like a song
Now the headlight' was another sight
We had two on the left and one on the right
But when we pulled out the switch all three of 'em come on.

The back end looked kinda funny too
But we put it together and when we got thru
Well, that's when we noticed that we only had one tail-fin
About that time my wife walked out
And I could see in her eyes that she had her doubts
But she opened the door and said "Honey, take me for a spin."

So we drove up town just to get the tags
And I headed her right on down main drag
I could hear everybody laughin' for blocks around
But up there at the court house they didn't laugh
'Cause to type it up it took the whole staff
And when they got through the title weighed sixty pounds.

CHORUS
I got it one piece at a time
And it didn't cost me a dime
You'll know it's me when I come through your town
I'm gonna ride around in style
I'm gonna drive everybody wild
'Cause I'll have the only one there is around.

(Spoken) Ugh! Yow, RED RYDER
This is the COTTON MOUTH
In the PSYCHO-BILLY CADILLAC Come on

Huh, This is the COTTON MOUTH
And negatory on the cost of this mow-chine there RED RYDER
You might say I went right up to the factory
And picked it up, it's cheaper that way
Ugh!, what model is it?

Well, It's a '49, '50, '51, '52, '53, '54, '55, '56
'57, '58' 59' automobile
It's a '60, '61, '62, '63, '64, '65, '66, '67
'68, '69, '70 automobile.

[VIETNAM 1968]

I remember when Johnny Cash released "One Piece At A Time". It was a great song with just the right amount of humor in it.

I first worked in a production factory before starting my job in Public Safety. I remember other workers that did take items out of the factory in their lunch boxes and pockets. It was common practice and none of us considered it as theft. It was always small items such as tape and small parts though. I do remember one employee that used to throw large items over the outer fence and then go back and pick them up after work. If he could not fit the item in his trunk he returned with a Pick Up Truck to get the item. Eventually he was caught and fired though when he started to sell the items as junk for the scrap value. The Junk Yard recognized the items and contacted the factory who investigated and found large amounts of metal items missing.

To all of my Vietnam Veteran Brothers and Sisters I again wish you all a big heart felt:

WELCOME HOME:


VIETNAM 1968

[frisco-kid]

"SINGIN' IN VIETNAM TALKIN' BLUES"
Written by Johnny Cash, '71.

One mornin' at breakfast I said to my wife,
We've been everywhere once and some places twice.
As I had another helpin' of country ham,
She said, We ain't never been to Vietnam.
There's a bunch of our boys over there, so we went to the Orient Saigon.

Well, we got a big welcome when we drove in,
To the gates of a place they called Long Binh.
We checked in and everything got kinda quiet,
But a soldier boy said just wait 'til tonight.
Things get noisy, things start happenin'. Big, bad firecrackers.

Well, that night we did about four shows for the boys,
And they were livin' it up with a whole lotta noise.
We did our last song for the night,
And we crawled into bed for some peace and quiet.

But things weren't peaceful, and things weren't quiet. They were scary.

Well, for a few minutes June never said one word.
And I thought at first that she hadn't heard.
Then a shell exploded not two miles away.
She sat up in bed and I heard her say,
What was that? I said a shell or a bomb.
She said, I'm scared. I said, Me too.

Well, all night long that noise kept on,
And the sound would chill you right to the bone.
The bullets and the bombs and the mortar shells,
Shook our bed everytime one fell.
And it never let up. It was going to get worse before it got better.

Well, when the sun came up the noise died down.
We got a few minutes sleep, and we were sleepin' sound.
Then a soldier knocked on our door and said,
Last night they brought in seven dead.
And fourteen wounded, and would we come
Down to the base hospital and see the boys. Yeah.

So we went to the hospital ward by day,
And every night with the singin' away.
Then the shells and the bombs 'til dawn again.
And the helicopters brought in the wounded men.
Night after night, day after day, comin' and a goin'.

So we sadly sang for them our last song,
And reluctantly we said So Long.
We did our best to let them know we care
For every last one of them that's over there.
Whether we belong over there or not, somebody over here loves 'em and needs 'em.

Well, that's about all that there is to tell
About that little trip into livin' Hell.
And if I ever go back over there anymore,
Hope there's none of our boys there for me to sing for.
I hope that war's over with,
And they all come back home to live in Peace.


YOU'LL BE MISSED FOR MANY YEARS TO COME, JOHNNY.

[covan]

Thanks to all who have posted some great Johnny Cash lyrics.

Was always one of my favorites.

God rest the soul of "The Man in Black".

[Jerry D]

Something interesting I read about John R. Cash ( one of my Favorite performers also) off the internet I learned a couple of neat things about him like he was a morse code "ditty bop" specialist. the following was from http://www.palletmastersworkshop.com/maninblue.html

John R. Cash died , 12 September 2003. Everyone knows him as Johnny Cash the great country and western singing legend. But what a lot of folks do not know, is Johnny Cash was a military veteran before he was a country singing star.

Before he was the "Man in Black", Airman Cash was the Man in Blue-Air Force Blue. He was born in 1932 in Kingsland, Arkansas and grew up on the family farm. He finished high school in 1950 just in time for the Korean War. While most young men, waited for the Army to draft them for two years of service, Johnny Cash joined the Air Force for four years.

He trained at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas, where he met his first wife and then shipped out to Landsberg, Bavaria, Germany. He spent most of his Air Force enlistment in Germany. He was a Morse Code intercept operator with the USAF Security Service. This meant he was listening to radio signals generated by people on the other side of the "Iron Curtain." There is a positive comparison, of the similarities in the abilities of people who work with signal codes and music. Apparently Mr. Cash had a strong natural ability in both areas.

He came from a family with a musical background, but was extreamly poor and buying musical instruments was low on the priority of needs. He was able to purchase his first guitar at the Base Exchange while stationed in Germany, using his military pay. I remember hearing an interview of Mr. Cash, talking about the fact that his military pay, regardless of how little Airman's pay was back then, was the first real money he had. The guitar was most assuredly a luxury he could never afford back home, as the son of an Arkansas sharecropper.

He formed his first band while in the Air Force, called the Landsberg Barbarians. It was made up of his fellow Airmen. He entertained GIs as well as the local Germans. The difference was, unlike Private Elvis Presley; Airman Johnny Cash was not already a famous singer while "posted" in Europe.

In the Air Force, after teaching himself to play the guitar he started writing music. He served in the Air Force until 1954, when he returned to Texas to marry his wife and eventually moved to Memphis, Tenn. Now as a civilian, veteran Johnny Cash used his G.I. Bill benefits, to attend a radio-announcing course, at a broadcasting school in Memphis.

When you look at his singing career from the 1960s through the 1990s you don't think of Johnny Cash as a veteran. His "Man in Black" image, partly came out of his feelings for the Vietnam War. However I discovered that Mr. Cash toured Vietnam for the U.S. State Department and performed for the troops.

His hard living, alleged drug and alcohol abuse and run-ins with the law did not set well with some in the Veteran community. But this was his life after serving his country. I can remember being on leave with my career Navy father, headed home to Iowa when I was in grade school. It was a long drive from where we were stationed in Idaho and we listened to Johnny Cash on the radio singing "Five Feet high and rising." All that summer, much to the chagrin of my family, I ran around sing "how highs the water mama - how highs the water papa." I couldn't remember the rest of the words.

It was the front lawn of veteran Johnny Cash's home, that a young Captain named Kris Kristofferson landed on, in an Army helicopter. He presented himself as a songwriter to Mr. Cash. After Captain Kristofferson left the service, it was veteran Cash who helped launch the music career of veteran Kristofferson.

Veterans helping veterans in the entertainment industry is becoming a thing of the past. The main reason is there are so few veterans in the music, TV and motion picture business. Even with all the patriotic music coming out since 11 September 2001, most of it is written and sung about veterans-not by veterans. While it is wonderful music and great performances, I still have to stop and remind myself these performers have not "been there."

The entertainment industry and the country music world lost a great performer today. They however are not the only ones who felt a loss. The veteran's of this great country lost one of their own. Former Airman Johnny Cash is gone, but I can assure you this is one veteran who will not be forgotten. "We buried another veteran today-it seems all my life it happens this way."

Major Van Harl USAF Ret.
Vanharl@aol.com

If you enjoy reading these salutes to the men and women who protect our freedom please share them with all your friends!

[Jerry D]

Here is the Youtube link for "Drive ON" By John R. Cash

YouTube - Johnny Cash - Drive on

"Drive On"