The Hangdogs

anacostia




We built our campfires down by the Potomac
Shouting distance from Hoover's door
Shared our stories of Flanders' bloody fields
Who we lost, who we killed and what we did it all for

Three hundred hungry men set out from Portland
By Washington, twenty thousand voices filled the air
All asking Hoover only just for what was owed us
A pittance to everything we left over there

Anacostia
MacArthur's coming to raze us to the ground
God damn old man'll never know all that went up
When he burned Anacostia down

Last day he sent the cavalry down Pennsylvania
Boys who might've been our brothers fifteen years ago
They say they're comin' cross to Anacostia tonight
And if you smell the tear gas, buddy, god, just keep your head down low

Today they called my grandson up for Vietnam
For democracy they say again but these days I don't know
I think I saw just what we fight for in MacArthur's eyes
Night he turned the bayonets around on his own

CHORUS
When he burned Anacostia down
When he burned Anacostia down
When he burned Anacostia down
Down
Down