WW2+Song+Lyrics

Lyrics! Asya Taylor “So Long, It's been Good to Know You”

by: Woody Guthrie

I got the news that the war had begun It was straight for the Army Hall that I run And all of the people in my home town Was a running up and a running down Singing:

CHORUS:

So long, it's been good to know you

So long, it's been good to know you

So long, it's been good to know you

There's a mighty big war that's got to be won

And we'll get back together again.

The crowd was packed by the railroad track

People was yelling and patting my back

And while the engineer rung his bell

I hugged all the mothers and kissed all the gals,

Singing:

CHORUS

I got to the camp and I learnt how to fight

Fascists in daytime, mosquitoes at night

I got my orders to cross o'er the sea

So I waved "goodbye" to the girls I could see,

Singing:

CHORUS

I got on a boat and I started to float

My old pack-sack and my big wool coat

With ten thousand men we rode the foam

And sung this song to the people back home:

CHORUS

I landed somewhere on a fighting shore

With ten million soldiers and ten million more

And while we were chasing that Super Race

We sung this song in the chase.

It was:

CHORUS

So it won't be long till the fascists are gone

And all of their likes are finished and done

We'll throw the clods of dirt in their face

And walk away from that lonesome place

Singing:

CHORUS


 * 1) "So Long, It's been good to know you" by Woody Guthrie. It was written in 1945.
 * 2) This song describes how one brave soldier has to leave his loved ones to fight in WWII. It relates to the conflict because a lot of people went through this a lot in the 1940s.
 * 3) The speaker is a soon-to-be soldier. His tone is brave, loving, and reassuring.
 * 4) The author uses hyperboles and flashbacks.
 * 5) In my opinion the best line is in the first stanza. It states: "There's a mighty big war that's got to be won and we'll be back together again."
 * 6) I think that in this line "I got on a boat and I started to float." the author used unusual words. I think that the word float symbolizes that the soldier had no control over what happened after that point. He "went with the flow" and did all he could to "stay above water".
 * 7) I would describe the emotions evoked from this poem with one word; powerful.