His hair was long and it tumbled down
across his face like a tiny clown
He stared at me with a funny look,
as he held to a comic book,
I thought I'd cry, but dads don't cry
His words were short, with a question why,
are you the lost man that makes Mama cry?
Have you come home to be my dad,
maybe mum now won't be so sad,
don't you know we missed you so?
How do you till a small boy that you had to go to war?
that you spent most of your time on a prison floor,
and that you wanted to be with him most of all
Sometimes late at night you swear that you heard him call
Sat on a bench and we talked a lot
'bout his first bike, that his mum had bought
his first day at school and his best friend Joe,
whose dad first took them to see the snow,
how could he know, I couldn't go?
I tried to explain the reason why I wasn't there,
but I dared not try
You can't make up for the time he's lost
when he needed me he payed the cost,
I wasn't there -- no time to spare
How do you till a small boy that you had to go to war?
that you spent most of your time on a prison floor,
and that you wanted to be with him most of all
Sometimes late at night you swear that you heard him call
Son, I'm home now, I plan to stay
Your Mom, you and I, we're gonna play
Win or lose, we'll be together
from now on we'll help each other
It's OK now, go and play
I've come home to stay
across his face like a tiny clown
He stared at me with a funny look,
as he held to a comic book,
I thought I'd cry, but dads don't cry
His words were short, with a question why,
are you the lost man that makes Mama cry?
Have you come home to be my dad,
maybe mum now won't be so sad,
don't you know we missed you so?
How do you till a small boy that you had to go to war?
that you spent most of your time on a prison floor,
and that you wanted to be with him most of all
Sometimes late at night you swear that you heard him call
Sat on a bench and we talked a lot
'bout his first bike, that his mum had bought
his first day at school and his best friend Joe,
whose dad first took them to see the snow,
how could he know, I couldn't go?
I tried to explain the reason why I wasn't there,
but I dared not try
You can't make up for the time he's lost
when he needed me he payed the cost,
I wasn't there -- no time to spare
How do you till a small boy that you had to go to war?
that you spent most of your time on a prison floor,
and that you wanted to be with him most of all
Sometimes late at night you swear that you heard him call
Son, I'm home now, I plan to stay
Your Mom, you and I, we're gonna play
Win or lose, we'll be together
from now on we'll help each other
It's OK now, go and play
I've come home to stay
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Single: Wake Up America! / How Do You Tell A Small Boy
The second song "How Do You Tell a Small Boy", narrated from the perspective of a P.O.W. (Prisoner of War), looked at the impact of a missing father on a child.
The P.O.W. wondered how to explain to his son that he "had to go to war", and that he spent most of his "time on a prison floor". The P.O.W. missed many of his son's life events: receiving his first bike, going to school, meeting his friend, playing in the snow. The father concluded that while he could not make up the time, and that his son paid the cost, he intended to stay home.
Vietnam War Songs Project