I am on a Riverboat on the Saigon River Where the musicâs too loud While I try to have my dinner Stories Iâve been told of 1954 When the bodies washed ashore from that distant war My friend Michael came in â68 The bodies still floating With the dinner boats sailing Beside all those souls of the American war
(chorus) Oh, deliver me to the river of souls In the heart of Indochine Deliver me to a River at Peace In this twenty-first century All those souls that floated free In these dark warâs waters All the souls now swim together The French the Viet Minh Those American boys The souls of the Saigon River At peace in Indochine
I am in a caffeâ in Ho Chi Minh City My friend Bobby Muller is sitting with me This traffic is maddening In his wheelchair heâs napping I wonder at times, does he walk in his dreams? Later I walked all the way from Tu Do Street To the banks of the river With the dinner boats sailing Beside all of the souls, of a River in Peace
(chorus)
Hoa binhâŠHoa Binh, ("peace" in Vietnamese) Peace in the Heart of Indochine