Dear Mr. President Songtext

von 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, Brooklyn, Mississippi

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 'em"

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