John Prine — Take the Star Out of the Window

Robert was a sailor for the best years of his life His captain was his mother and the ocean was his wife Only fresh out of the cradle, life's one and only spring He was sworn to do his duty and got blood on his high school ring And it's hello California, hello Dad and Mom Ship ahoy, your baby boy is home from Vietnam Don't you ask me any questions about the medals on my chest Take the star out of the window and let my conscience take a rest Now he sailed across the ocean to the old Far Eastern war And it was foreign to his body, it was foreign to his shore So he traded in the present for the better times he'd seen And made an Oriental waitress his own homecomin' queen And it's hello California, hello Dad and Mom Ship ahoy, your baby boy is home from Vietnam Don't you ask me any questions about the medals on my chest Take the star out of the window and let my conscience take a rest