Galveston Bay

Home » Statistical Information » Songs » Songs =- G -= » Galveston Bay

Track 11 of The Ghost Of Tom Joad, 1995.

The Ghost Of Tom Joad (1995)
- Bruce Springsteen: vocals, guitar, keyboard

Galveston Bay

For fifteen years Le Bin Son fought side by side with the Americans
In the mountains and deltas of Vietnam
In '75 Saigon fell and he left his command
And brought his family to the promised land

Seabrook, Texas and the small towns in the Gulf of Mexico
It was delta country and reminded him of home
He worked as a machinist, put his money away and bought a shrimp boat with his cousin
And together they harvested Galveston Bay
In the morning 'fore the sun come up he'd kiss his sleeping daughter
Steer out through the channel and cast his nets into the water

Billy Sutter fought with Charlie Company in the highlands of Quang Tri
He was wounded in the battle of Chu Lai, shipped home in '68
There he married and worked the gulf fishing grounds in a boat that'd been his father's
In the morning he'd kiss his sleeping son and cast his nets into the water

Billy sat in front of his TV as the South fell and the communists rolled into Saigon
He and his friends watched as the refugees came, settled on the same streets and worked the coast they'd grew up on
Soon in the bars around the harbor was talk of America for Americans
Someone said "You want 'em out, you got to burn 'em out." and brought in the Texas Klan

One humid Texas night there were three shadows on the harbor come to burn the Vietnamese boats into the sea
In the fire's light shots rang out, two Texans lay dead on the ground, Le stood with a pistol in his hand
A jury acquitted him in self-defense as before the judge he did stand
But as Le walked down the courthouse steps, Billy said, "My friend you're a dead man."

One late summer night Le stood watch along the waterside
Billy stood in the shadows, his K-bar knife in his hand and the moon slipped behind the clouds
Le lit a cigarette, the bay was still as glass
As he walked by Billy stuck his knife into his pocket, took a breath and let him pass
In the early darkness Billy rose up, went into the kitchen for a drink of water
Kissed his sleeping wife, headed into the channel and cast his nets into the water of Galveston Bay

^{Visit SpringsteenLyrics.com for other versions of this song.}

g galvestonbay info r_gotj song tour_dd tour_gotj tour_no

Brucebase Wiki

Site Navigation

Galveston Bay