Dave Alvin/Chris Gaffney

(Blue Horn Toad Music, BMI/Calhoun Street Music/Ensaga Songs, BMI, Administered by Bug Music)





Johnny gave Joe his first cigarette

And Joe lit the filter and then he smoked the whole pack

And Joe bought all the gas in Johnny’s old Ford

He always said that’s what friends were for.



When Johnny married Tina, Joe married Dee

Two blonde-haired sisters from Covington, Kentucky

And in ‘67 Johnny joined the Corps

Joe did too, but he never knew what for.



And tonight in this barroom he’s easin’ his pain 

He’s thinkin’ of someone, but he won’t say the name

Folks say he’s a hero, but he’ll tell you he ain’t

He left a hero in the jungle back in 1968.



Johnny went from job to job tryin’ to make ends meet

And Tina divorced him back in ‘83

Now thirty years come and thirty years go

And Johnny’s got a grandkid that he barely knows.



And tonight in this barroom he’s easin’ his pain

He’s thinkin’ of someone, but he won’t say the name

Folks say he’s a hero, but he’ll tell you he ain’t

He left a hero in the jungle back in 1968.



Well Dee calls Johnny every now and then

And talks about her children and her third husband

But when he asks about someone they used to know

Dee says, “Johnny that was so long ago.”



Tonight in this barroom he’s easin’ his pain

He’s thinkin’ of someone, but he won’t say the name

Folks say he’s a hero; he’ll tell you ain’t

He left a hero in the jungle back in 1968

He left a hero in the jungle back in 1968.