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So Long, Mom
A Song for World War III

by Tom Lehrer


This year we've been celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the Civil War, and the fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of World War I, and the twentieth anniversary of the end of World War II, so all in all it's been a good year for the war buffs, and a number of LPs and television specials have come out capitalizing on all this nostalgia with particular emphasis on the songs of the various wars. I feel that if any songs are going to come out of World War III, we'd better start writing them now. I have one here. You might call it a bit of pre-nostalgia. This is the song that some of the boys sang as they went bravely off to World War III.


    So long, Mom,
    I'm off to drop the bomb,
    So don't wait up for me.
    But while you swelter
    Down there in your shelter,
    You can see me
    On your TV.

    While we're attacking frontally,
    Watch Brinkally and Huntally,
    Describing contrapuntally
    The cities we have lost.
    No need for you to miss a minute
    Of the agonizing holocaust. (Yeah!)

    Little Johnny Jones, he was a U.S. pilot,
    And no shrinking vi'let was he.
    He was mighty proud when World War Three was declared,
    He wasn't scared,
    No siree!

    And this is what he said on
    His way to Armageddon:

    So long, Mom,
    I'm off to drop the bomb,
    So don't wait up for me.
    But though I may roam,
    I'll come back to my home,
    Although it may be
    A pile of debris.

    Remember, Mommy,
    I'm off to get a commie,
    So send me a salami,
    And try to smile somehow.
    I'll look for you when the war is over,
    An hour and a half from now!





S-1:
ADMIN
S-2:
INTEL
S-3:
OPNS
S-4:
QM
S-5:
CA
S-6:
COMMO
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