Deja Vu in the Big Muddy

I heard John Fogerty’s fine anti-Iraq War song on the radio again yesterday. This time I noticed the reference to Pete Seeger’s 1963 song “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy.” Here are the lyrics to Fogerty’s song. They read well, but of course to get the full effect you have to listen to the song. Nothing reinforces the idea that Iraq is a monstrous replay of Vietnam than hearing the same voices that sang about Vietnam sing about Iraq. I also heard a recent live version of Bob Dylan’s “With God on Our Side,” and it was unexpectedly moving. It was never one of my favorite Dylan Songs—I thought it was a little sophomoric—but to hear it sung with a sixty-three year-old Dylan voice (today is his 63rd birthday!) it took on much more depth and meaning. Dylan sang it in a weary voice, expressing just in the sound that he’d seen it all before and that this is not going to end well, while, when he sang it in the sixties, it sounded like a clever young man who had read some history books. Here's Fogerty's song:

Deja Vu (All Over Again)

Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio?
Did you try to read the writing on the wall?
Did that voice inside you say I've heard it all before?
It's like Deja Vu all over again

Day by day I hear the voices rising
Started with a whisper like it did before
Day by day we count the dead and dying
Ship the bodies home while the networks all keep score

Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio?
Could your eyes believe the writing on the wall?
Did that voice inside you say I've heard it all before?
It's like Deja Vu all over again

One by one I see the old ghosts rising
Stumblin' 'cross Big Muddy
Where the light gets dim
Day after day another Momma's crying
She's lost her precious child
To a war that has no end

Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio?
Did you stop to read the writing at The Wall?
Did that voice inside you say
I've seen this all before?
It's like Deja Vu all over again
It's like Deja Vu all over again

John Fogerty
C2004 Cody River Music / ASCAP

Here are the lyrics to “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy” by Pete Seeger referenced in Fogery’s song. Seeger sang it on TV in the Johnson administration and found himself blacklisted, unable to perform on TV for several years.

Waist Deep in the Big Muddy
Pete Seeger (1963)

It was back in 1942, I was part of a good platoon
We were on manoeuvres in Louisiana one night by the light of the moon
The Captain said, We got to ford the river, that's where it all began
We were knee deep in the Big Muddy
And the damn fool kept yelling to push on

The Sergeant said, Sir, are you sure this is the way back to base
Sergeant, I once crossed this river not a mile above this place
It'll be a little soggy but we'll keep on slogging, we'll soon be on dry ground
We were waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the damn fool kept yelling to push on

Captain, sir, with all this gear no man will be able to swim
Sergeant, don't be a nervous nellie, the Captain said to him
All we need is a little determination, follow me - I'll lead on
We were neck deep in the Big Muddy
And the damn fool kept yelling to push on

All of a sudden the moon clouded over, all we heard was a gurgling cry
And a second later the Captain's helmet was all that floated by
The Sergeant said, Turn round, men, I'm in charge from now
And we just made it out of the Big Muddy
With the Captain dead and gone

We stripped and dived and found his body stuck in the old quicksand
I guess he didn't know the water was deeper than the place where he'd once been
For another stream had joined the Muddy a half mile from where we'd gone
We were lucky to get out of the Big Muddy
When the damn fool kept yelling to push on

I don't want to draw conclusions, I'll leave that to yourself
Maybe you're still walking, maybe you're still talking
But every time I hear the news that old feeling comes back on
We're neck deep in the Big Muddy
And the damn fools keep yelling to push on

Knee deep in the Big Muddy
And the fools keep yelling, Push on
Waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the damn fools keep yelling, Push on
Waist deep, neck deep
We'll be drowning before too long
We're neck deep in the Big Muddy
And the damn fools keep yelling to push on