TITLE: Songs of Saigon (Cosmos Command edition)

AUTHOR/COMPILER:

BRANCH OF SERVICE: Army, civilian

UNIT/AGENCY: Special Forces, MACV, CORDS, USAID, CIA, Foreign Service

DATE: Probably 1963-1965

PLACE: The collection appears to have compiled in Saigon. The songs were composed at various locations.

NOTE: An anonymous dittoed collection of 24 songs, put together about the same time as the Bowen collections with the same title. Thirteen of the songs are identical or nearly so, to songs in the Bowen collections; one is a variant. Lansdale included a copy of the "Cosmos Command edition" of Songs of Saigon in the documentation which he presented to the Library of Congress with the tapes of Songs by Americans in the Vietnam War .

In the narration which Lansdale wrote for these tapes he comments: "During the coups and political strife of the early 1960s, some CIA officers and their friends would meet at the Cosmos Bar, a little hole-in-the-wall place behind the American Embassy on Ham Nghi Street in Saigon. As relief from the strain of the day's events, they made up irreverent songs – and nicknamed themselves the Cosmos Tabernacle Choir."

CONTENTS:

1. Arrivederci Saigon

Tune: Arrivederci Roma

2. We Are Winning

Tune: Rock of Ages.

Note: Does not appear to be related to Jim Bullington's song of the same title.

3. [Landlord Fill That Nuoc Mam Bowl]

Tune: Landlord Fill the Flowing Bowl

4. [I Met A Gal in Old Saigon]

Tune: Sioux City Sue

5. Gotta Travel On

Tune: I've Laid Around and Stayed Around This Old Town Too Long

Note: Does not appear to be related to "I've Laid Around and Stayed Around Vietnam Too Long" in the Unit History of the 48th AHC.

6. The Longest Year

7. Don't Tell Me I've Nothing to Do [Counting Geckos on the Wall]

8. Ghost Advisors By and By (Pre-Coup)

Tune: Ghost Riders

9. MACV Fight Song [Let's Fight On For COMUS MACV]

Tune: Notre Dame Fight Song

10. Let's Do It (Saigon Version 1964, end January)

Tune: Let's Do It

11. The Streets of Saigon (Coup Time)

Tune: Streets of Loredo

12. The Yellow Rose of Saigon

Tune: Yellow Rose of Texas

13. Montagnard Sergeant

Tune: My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean

14. 'Twas Coup Day

Note: Parody of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"

15. Don't Take My Counterpart Away

Tune: You Are my Sunshine

16. MACV Fight Song #2 [Buckle Down, Westmoreland, Buckle Down]

17. MACV Marching Song [Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory of a Thousand Claymore Mines]

Tune: Battle Hymn of the Republic

18. O Little Town of Ban Me Thuot

Tune: O Little Town of Bethlehem

19. God Rest Ye General Westmoreland

Tune: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

20. The Welve Days of Christmas

Tune: The Twelve Days of Christmas

21. [Dashing Through Pleiku]

Tune: Jingle Bells

22. [Deck the Halls With Victor Charlie]

Tune: Deck the Halls

23. You Better Bug Out

Tune: Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

24. JOT Song

Tune: You Are My Sunshine

25. Methuenspoof Song

Tune: Whiffenpoof Song

Note: A text of this song, not in the same type face as the rest of the book (which appears to have been dittoed), is stapled onto the back of the copy of Songs of Saigon that Lansdale gave to the Library of Congress. It does not appear in the copy Joe Baker gave to me.

NOTES UPDATED: 11 April 2025