Ballad of the College Kids

The college kids were gathered around Listening to the latest stereophonic sounds Speakers booming their tunes and melodies Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, Doors and Bee Gees Sweet scent of cheap hemp filled the air It was Friday night, nobody cared 'bout quizzes, tests, exams or papers The night was young: time for drug-fueled capers Where to go? What to do? Gotta move! Gotta be-- Where the action is! Where it's happenin,' man! On the prowl for a quickie, for a one-night stand At anonymous bars, dens of debauchery They moved in packs of conformist thought Jocks or thespians, wimps or nerds Frat-boys or hippies -- bearded, hirsute, absurd -- Stoned or drunk, immorality they sought When in walked a man who silenced that den Five stripes on his sleeve, a steel slab for a chin He stared hard at them; they shrank from him A general's general, on loan from Vietnam He smelled the cheap hemp and the two-bit beer Muttered an imprecation: "I'm out of here." Then he pointed at those trembling college pickins: "You're as weak as kittens, as yellow as chickens ... If you want to grow up; if real men you'd like to be ~ Come fight for your country in the jungles of 'Nam with me."