We Seek No Wider War

By Phil Ochs

Over the ashes of blood marched the civilized soldiers,
over the ruins of the French fortress of a failure
over the silent screams of the dead and the dying
saying please be reassured, we seek no wider war.

The treaties were signed, the country was split into sections
but growing numbers of prisons were built for protection
rapidly filling with people who called for elections
But please be reassured, we seek no wider war.

Ngo Dinh Diem was the puppet who danced for the power
The hero of hate who gambled on hell for his hour
Father of his country was stamped on the medals we showered
but please be reassured, we seek no wider war.
 
Machine gun bullets became the bloody baptizers
and the falcon 'copters don't care if someone's the wiser
but the boy in the swamp didn't know he was killed by advisers
So please be reassured, we seek no wider war.

And fires were spitting at forests in defoliation
while the people were pressed into camps not called concentration
and the greater the victory the greater the shame of the nation
but please be reassured, we seek no wider war.

While we were watching the prisoners were tested by torture
and vicious and violent gasses maintained the order
as the finest Washington minds found slogans for slaughter 
but please be reassured, we seek no wider war.

Then over the border came the Bay of Pigs planes of persuasion
All remaining honor went up in flames of invasion
But the shattered schools never learned that it's not escalation
 [or: But who'll tell the bodies of children it's not escalation? ]
But please be reassured, we seek no wider war.

We're teaching peaple freedom for which they are yearning
While were dragging them down to the path of never returning
But we'll condescend to talk while the cities are burning
But please be reassured, we seek no wider war.

And the evil is done in hopes  that evil surrenders
but the deeds of the devil are burned too deep in the embers
and a world of hunger in vengeance will always remember
So please be reassured, we seek no wider war,
we seek no wider war.

Notes:

1965

The recording on Farewells And Fantasies omits the last verse

I noticed that this music for this song is very similar to Love Me, I'm a Liberal.

Ian Mair sent me this:

I think I figured out the chords to "We Seek no Wider War" pretty
accurately.  The version I've tabbed here is from disc 1 of the
Farewells & Fantasies box set, and it's arguably my favorite Ochs song.

Phil hammers his pinky (or slides his ring finger up 1 fret) to achieve the 
A to Asus, which is part of the intro, so the whole intro would look like 
this:

E:        to        A:        then hammer/slide to   Asus:
E--0--              E--0--                           E--0--
B--0--              B--2--                           B--3--
G--1--              G--2--                           G--2--
D--2--              D--2--                           D--2--
A--2--              A--0--                           A--0--
E--0--              E--0--                           E--0--

the Asus is held for less than a beat, so just hammer and pull off really 
fast.  he actually does it through the whole song's E-A transition, but 
there isn't much noticable difference if you leave out the Asus in the 
verses.  one last helpful hint, it's much easier to slide the C#m and G#m 
(in the 2nd and 3rd lines) up to a barred A instead of moving way back down 
the neck to a regular A.

E:022100
A:002220 (bar = 577655)
Asus:002230
C#m:446654
B7:021202
G#m:466544
D:x00232

Intro: E A Asus A  (play three times)

E        A        E                 A         E         A E A
Over the ashes of blood marched the civilized soldiers,
C#m                   A                    B7
over the ruins of the French fortress of a failure
E        A      E              A            G#m-A
over the silent screams of the dead and the dying
    E         A   E    A    D       A     E   A E A
but please be reassured, we seek no wider war.