Mathematics (spoken)
words and music: A1C Jim Shaffer
sung by Jim Shaffer
Fifty stars sway with the wind
And several stripes are falling, falling
Oh, cloth and thread . . .
This young man fights for,
Prays for, lives for,
Maybe dies for.
Listen close . . .
he's calling, calling
(Chorus)
"Help me please"
My sisters' song
My brothers' song
"It's all so wrong,
so wrong."
But indifferent ears
Hear only drums
And bugles clear,
See only blood
And flesh to tear
And marching, marching
Off to war, and more
What for, what for, what for.
(Repeat Chorus)
But who will bite the metal tag?
White collar worker?
Construction man?
Pencil pusher?
Or Wall Street rag?
Hell no!
(Repeat Chorus)
Listen close . . . he's calling,
calling . . . calling you!
An appeal to middle America to listen to the GIs, and so they wanted to open the record with it. Probably the most popular song at the Wagon. At a concert, Jim Shaffer was asked why he called it "Mathematics." He thought a moment and then said: "It's about the war. The war divides us, it subtracts our humanity, and multiplies our problems. There's nothing else to add.
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