Lletres: Pete Seeger. Dear Mr. President.

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 axe.

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 everything's perfect or everything'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