The song King Henry is performed by Pete Seeger in the album named Dangerous Songs in the year 1998 .
King Henry marched forth, a sword in his hand
Two thousand horsemen all at his command
In a fortnight the rivers ran red through the land
The year fifteen hundred and twenty
The year it is now nineteen sixty five
It's easier far to stay half alive
Just keep your mouth shut while the planes zoom and dive
Ten thousand miles over the ocean
Simon was drafted in sixty three
In sixty four, sent over the sea
Last month this letter he sent to me
He said, "You won't like what I'm saying"
He said, "We've no friends here, no hardly a one
We've got a few generals who just want our guns
But it will take more than that if we're ever to win
Why, we'll have to flatten the country"
"It's my own troops I have to watch out for," he said
"I sleep with a pistol right under my head"
He wrote this last month, last week he was dead
And Simon came home in a casket
I mind my own business, I watch my TV
Complain about taxes but pay anyway
In a civilized manner my forefathers betray
Who long ago struggled for freedom
But each day a new headline screams at my bluff
On TV some general says we must be tough
In my dreams I stare at this family I love
All gutted and spattered with napalm
King Henry marched forth, a sword in his hand
Two thousand horsemen all at his command
In a fortnight the rivers ran red through the land
The year fifteen hundred and twenty
The year it is now nineteen sixty five
It's easier far to stay half alive
Just keep your mouth shut while the planes zoom and dive
Ten thousand miles over the ocean
Pete Seeger - Dangerous Songs
Dangerous Songs
- Medley: Robin The Bobbin/ Mary, Mary Quite Contrary/ Little Jack Horner
- Die Gedanken Sind Frei
- Jackaro
- Never Wed An Old Man
- John Brown's Body
- Going Across The Mountains
- Harry Simms
- King Henry
- Medley: Ode To Joy/ Goliath Goliath
- Queen Anne Front
- Joe Hill's "Casey Jones"
- One Grain Of Sand
- The Pill
- The Draft Dodger Rag
- Mao Tse Tung
- Walking Down Death Row
- Two From Shakespeare: Full Fathom Five/ Perchance to Win
- Beans In My Ears
- Equinoxial
- Joe Hill's "Casey Jones"
- What Next?