Malvina Reynolds: Song Lyrics and Poems  

Thirty-Three Dollars

Notes: words and music by Malvina Reynolds; copyright 1966 Schroder Music Company, renewed 1994. Regarding the alleged compensation amount being paid by the Air Force circa 1966 for each Vietnamese civilian accidentally killed during the hostilities there.

Bargain day in the battle zone,
Thirty three dollars for a human soul
Here is the biggest bargain yet
To pay for the life of an innocent Viet.

What kind of scale do they use to weigh
How much money they have to pay,
The worth of a father to his wife and sons,
The worth of a mother to her little ones.

Some military brain went about
To set the computer that worked it out,
The worth of a father to his wife and sons,
The worth of a mother to her little ones.

Bombs can't figure what they kill
But the war department will pay the bill--
A hundred grand for a dead V.C.
But civilians come at a bargain fee.

The things we've done to that peasant land
Are hard for a person to understand
But this one item tells the tale
On how we reckon and what the scale.

Millions of dollars for tanks and planes
For ammo trucks and ammo trains
Billions to make the war wheels roll
To keep one monster in control--
But thirty three dollars for a human soul.

Malvina Reynolds songbook(s) in which the music to this song appears:
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Other place(s) where the music to this song appears:
---- Broadside No. 79 (February-March 1967)

Malvina Reynolds recording(s) on which this song is performed:
---- [none]