Where have all our heroes gone what's come over our great land
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America is still my home sweet home but where have all our heroes gone
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I saw a group of boys the other day standing in the corner of a playground
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Looking and laughin' at a magazine
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And I overheard one of the boys said man is he ever cool
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And he pointed to the man who's picture was on the magazine cover
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And everybody kinda said under their breath yeah he's cool alright
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And I got sick to my stomach
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Because I'd seen the cover and the man that they were talking about
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Had instigated a riot in one of our major cities last summer
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And the magazine was writing about how the police were unkind to him
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The judges were not fair with him
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And how he talked back and slung his long hair about and cussed
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And did his things and they made him into a regular hero
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And inside this magazine was the story of a baseball player
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Who got involted with the gamblers
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Of the football player who said that football was not the end
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Just a mean to an end meanin' the girls and the good times
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And a story of a folk singer who proudly claims
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To be both a member of a party ailen to our government and a nontax payin' citizen
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These young boys read with open eyes and open minds
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And I thought to myself my God
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Are these the people that these young boys look up to
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Are these their idols are these the heroes of the now generation
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(America is still my home sweet home but where have all our heroes gone)
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I had heroes when I was a kid we all did and our heroes did their thing too
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Like General Douglas McArthur who returned like he said he would
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Like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers who chased the bad guys right off the screen
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Like Lindberg who flew the ocean and Jesse Owens who showed Hitler
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And John Wayne and Gerry Cooper after all didn't they really win the war
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And General Ike bless your soul cause he made us feel safe
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We've killed some of our recent heroes the Kennedys and Kings
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And even as great as their space feats are
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How many of the astronauts can you name huh how many
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My heroes were people like Joe DiMaggio who proved that nice guys can finish first
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And Stan Musian who never had an unkind word for anybody
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And Winston Churchill who's two fingers raised together meant victory
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Not just a let-your-enemy-have-it-all kind of artificial peace
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This country needs a lotta things today friends
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But it doesn't need any one thing anymore than it needs some real heroes
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Men who know what it means to be looked up to by a griny faced kid
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Men who wanna sign autograph books and not deal under the table
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Men who are willing to play the game with the people who made them heroes
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Men who don't mind putting on a white hat and saying thank you and please
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I wish I knew more men that I'd be proud of for my son to look up to and say
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Daddy when I grow up I want to be just-like-him (Where have all our heroes gone)
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Where Have All Our Heroes Gone
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Bill Anderson |