19 October 2007

Khe Sanh

Cold Chisel is my all time fave Australian rock group. When I started to like them in the mid 80s, they are on their way to breaking up and Jimmy Barnes started doing solo albums.


Among their great albums are "Breakfast At Sweethearts", "East" and "Circus Animals". One of their last albums "Twentieth Century" are said to be too commercial but I loved it to bits all the same.

However, the Cold Chisel single that I can never forget is "Khe Sanh", from their first self titled album "Cold Chisel" in 1978. If you have broadband connection, check out the Khe Sanh video at You Tube. See if you will agree with me that it is indeed a classic.

Khe Sanh will be 30 years old next year, but it still sounds like it was released yesterday.

Khe Sanh - Cold Chisel

I left my heart to the sappers round Khe Sanh
And I sold my soul with my cigarettes to the black market man
I've had the Vietnam cold turkey
From the ocean to the Silver City
And it's only other vets could understand

About the long forgotten dockside guarantees
How there were no V-day heroes in 1973
And how we sailed into Sydney Harbour
Saw an old friend but couldn't kiss her
She was lined, and I was home to the lucky land

And she was like so many more from that time on
Their lives were all so empty, until they found their chosen one
And their legs were often open
But their minds were always closed
And their hearts were held in fast suburban chains
And the legal pads were yellow, hours long, pay packet lean
And the telex writers clattered where the gunships once had been
And car parks make me jumpy
And I never stopped the dreams
Or the growing need for speed and Novocaine

So I worked across the country from end to end
Tried to find a place to settle down, where my mixed up life could mend
Held a job on an oil-rig
Flying choppers when I could
But the nightlife nearly drove me round the bend

And I've traveled round the world from year to year
And each one found me aimless, one more year the worst for wear
And I've been back to South East Asia
You know the answer sure ain't there
But I'm drifting north, to check things out again

Well the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone
Only seven flying hours, and I'll be landing in Hong Kong
And there ain't nothing like the kisses
From a jaded Chinese princess
I'm gonna hit some Hong Kong mattress all night long

Well the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone
You know the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone
And it's really got me worried
I'm goin' nowhere and I'm in a hurry
You know the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone

Well the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone (yeah, yeah)
You know the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone
And it's really got me worried
I'm goin' nowhere and I'm in a hurry
You know the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone

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