Text: Billy Bragg. Everywhere.

?Dig in, boys, for an extended stay?
Those were the final orders to come down that day
Waiting to be saved in the Philippines
You'll wait forever for the young Marines

Now I believe to be here is right
But I have to say that I'm scared tonight
Crouching in this hole with a mouth full of sand
What comes first, the country or the man?

Look at those slanted eyes
Coming up over the hill
Catching us by surprise
It's time to kill or to be killed

Over here, over there
It's the same everywhere
A boy cries out for his mama
Before he dies for his home

All my life I wanted to be
As clever and strong as my best friend Lee
We grew up together along Half Moon Bay
Lee was Japanese, born in the USA

When Tommy was fighting Jerry along the River Seine
Me and Lee, we wanted to do the same
Then they bombed Pearl Harbor at the break of day
I was headed for these islands while Lee was hauled away

They said, ?Look at his slanted eyes
He's guilty as guilty can be?
Sent here as enemy spies
To sabotage the Land of the Free

Over here, over there
It's the same everywhere
A boy cries out for his mama
Before he dies for his home

I never got home, my platoon was never saved
That little foxhole became my island grave
Lee got out of jail but a prisoner he remained
'Til he ended his own life to lose that ball and chain

And they said, ?Oh, Little Slanted Eyes
Can't you forgive and forget?"
And he said, ?Oh, Mr. Friendly Ghost
Can you catch water in a net??

Over here, over there
It's the same everywhere
A boy cries out for his mama
Before he dies for his home

A boy cries out for his mama
Before he dies for his home