Bruce Springsteen - Galveston Bay: chords

D
Fifteen years Le Bing Son
        G                      D
Fought side by side with the Americans
                      A          D
In the mountains and deltas of Vietnam

In '75 Saigon fell
     G              D
and he left his command
                 A              D
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

        A                 D
In the mornin' 'fore the sun come up
      G                 D
He'd kiss his sleepin' daughter
  A                     D
Steer out through the channel
               G             D  G D
And casts his nets into the water
Billy Sutter fought with Charlie Company
        G                   D
In the highlands of Quang Tri
        G                            D
He was wounded in the battle of Chu Lai
             A        D
And shipped home in '68

There he married and worked the gulf fishing grounds
In a boat that had 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 Ka-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