Dear Mr. President - Pete Seeger

Dear Mr President I set me down

To send you greetings from my home town

And send you best wishes

From all the friends I know

In Texas Alabama Ohio

And affiliated places

I'm an ordinary guy worked most of my life

Sometime I'll settle down with my kids and wife

And I like to see a movie or take a little drink

I like being free to say what I think

Sort of runs in the family

My grandpa crossed the ocean

For the same reason

Now I hate Hitler and I can tell you why

He's caused lots of good

Folks to suffer and die

He's got a way of shoving folks around

I figure it's about time we

Slapped him down

Give him a dose of his own medicine

Lead poisoning

Now Mr President

We haven't always agreed in the past I know

But that ain't at all important now

What is important is what we got to do

We got to lick Mr Hitler and until we do

Other things can wait

In other words first we got a skunk to skin

War means overtime and higher prices

But we're all willing to make sacrifices

Hell I'd even stop fighting

With my mother in law

Cause we need her too

To win the war old battle ax

Now as I think of our great land

Of the cities and towns and farming land

There's so many good people

Working every day

I know it ain't perfect but it

Will be some day

Just give us a little time

This is the reason that I want to fight

Not because every thing's

Perfect or every thing's right

No it's just the opposite

I'm fighting because I want

A better America with better laws

And better homes and jobs and schools

And no more Jim Crow and no more rules

Like you can't ride on this train

Cause you're a Negro

You can't live here cause you're a Jew

You can't work here cause you're a union man

There's a line keeps running

Through my head

I think it was something Joe Louis once said

Said There's lots of things wrong

But Hitler won't help them

Now Mr President

You're commander in chief of our armed forces

Ships and planes and the tanks and horses

I guess you know best just where I can fight

All I want to be is situated right

To do the most damage

I never was one to try and shirk

And let the other fellow do all the work

So when the time comes I'll be on hand

And make good use of these two hands

Quit playing this banjo around with the boys

And exchange it for something

That makes more noise

So Mr President

We've got this one big job to do

That's lick Mr Hitler and when we're through

Let no one else ever take his place

To trample down the human race

So what I want is you to give me a gun

So we can hurry up and get the job done