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Bill Withers / 09 / Live At Carnegie Hall / I Can't Write Left-Handed
Bill Withers
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We recorded this song on October the 6th
Since then the war has been declared over
If you're like me, you'll remember it like anybody remembers any war
One big drag
Lot of people writes songs about wars and government
Very social things
But I think about young guys
Who were like I was when I was young
I had no more idea about any government
Or political things, or anything
And I think about those kind of young guys now
Who all of a sudden somebody comes up
And they are very law abiding
So if somebody says go
They don't ask any questions, they just go
And I can remember not too long ago seeing a young guy
With his right arm gone
Just got back
And I asked him how he was doing
He said he was doing alright now
But he had thought he was gonna die
He said getting shot at didn't bother him
It was getting shot that shook him up
And I tried to put myself in his position
Maybe he cried
Maybe he said
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I can't write left-handed
Would you please write a letter
Write a letter to my mother?
Tell her to tell, tell her to tell
Tell her to tell my family lawyer
Try to get, try to get a deferment for my younger brother
Tell the Reverend Harris to pray for me
Lord, lord, lord
I ain't gonna live
I don't believe I'm gonna live to get much older
Strange little man over here in Vietnam
I ain't, I ain't never seen
Bless his heart I ain't never done nothin' to
He done shot me in my shoulder
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Bootcamp we had classes, aha
You know we talked about fightin', fightin' everyday
And lookin' through rosy, rosy coloured glasses
I must admit it seemed exciting, anyway
Oh, but something that day overlooked to tell me, lord
Bullets look better, I must say
Rather when they comin' at you
But go without the other way
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And please call up the Reverend, call up
Call up the Reverend Harris
And tell him to ask the lord to do some good things for me, lord no
Tell him, I ain't gonna live
I ain't gonna live, I ain't gonna live to get much older
Oh lord
Strange little man over here in Vietnam
I ain't never seen, bless his heart
I ain't never done nothing to
He done shot me in my shoulder
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