Handsome Johnny

Album: Mixed Bag (1966)
Play Video
  • Hey, look yonder, tell me what's that you see
    Marching to the fields of Concord?
    It looks like Handsome Johnny with a musket in his hand,
    Marching to the Concord war, hey marching to the Concord war.

    Hey, look yonder, tell me what you see
    Marching to the fields of Gettysburg?
    It looks like Handsome Johnny with a flintlock in his hand,
    Marching to the Gettysburg war, hey marching to the Gettysburg war.

    Hey, look yonder, tell me what's that you see
    Marching to the fields of Dunkirk?
    It looks like Handsome Johnny with a carbine in his hand,
    Marching to the Dunkirk war, hey marching to the Dunkirk war.

    Hey, look yonder, tell me what you see
    Marching to the fields of Korea?
    It looks like Handsome Johnny with an M1 in his hand,
    Marching to the Korean war, hey marching to the Korean war.

    Hey, look yonder, tell me what you see
    Marching to the fields of Vietnam?
    It looks like Handsome Johnny with an M15,
    Marching to the Vietnam war, hey marching to the Vietnam war.

    Hey, look yonder, tell me what you see
    Marching to the fields of Birmingham?
    It looks like Handsome Johnny with his hand rolled in a fist,
    Marching to the Birmingham war, hey marching to the Birmingham war.

    Hey, it's a long hard road, it's a long hard road,
    It's a long hard road, before we'll be free.

    Hey, what's the use of singing this song, some of you are not even listening.
    Tell me what it is we've got to do: wait for our fields to start glistening,
    Wait for the bullets to start whistling.
    Here comes a hydrogen bomb, here comes a guided missile,
    Here comes a hydrogen bomb: I can almost hear its whistle. Writer/s: LOUIS GOSSETT, RICHARD PIERCE HAVENS
    Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 1

  • Robert 'boda' from AtlantaI had no idea the Army flew the acts into Woodstock. Even more amazing is that Havens wrote this with Louis Gossett Jr.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde

Johnette Napolitano of Concrete BlondeSongwriter Interviews

The singer/bassist for Concrete Blonde talks about how her songs come from clairvoyance, and takes us through the making of their hit "Joey."

Randy Houser

Randy HouserSongwriter Interviews

The "How Country Feels" singer talks Skynyrd and songwriting.

American Hits With Foreign Titles

American Hits With Foreign TitlesSong Writing

What are the biggest US hits with French, Spanish (not "Rico Suave"), Italian, Scottish, Greek, and Japanese titles?

Rush: Album by Album - A Conversation With Martin Popoff

Rush: Album by Album - A Conversation With Martin PopoffSong Writing

A talk with Martin Popoff about his latest book on Rush and how he assessed the thousands of albums he reviewed.

John Waite

John WaiteSongwriter Interviews

"Missing You" was a spontaneous outpouring of emotion triggered by a phone call. John tells that story and explains what MTV meant to his career.

Joe Ely

Joe ElySongwriter Interviews

The renown Texas songwriter has been at it for 40 years, with tales to tell about The Flatlanders and The Clash - that's Joe's Tex-Mex on "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"