It was just a little while ago, I glued my ears to the radio The announcer was sayin' we'd better beware A crisis was hanging, a wave up in the air Crawlin' on the ground, swimmin' in the sea, headin' for me Well, I didn't know if I was for or agin' it He was yellin' and screamin' a mile a minute Well, he said "Here comes the President But first this word from Pepsodent Have whiter teeth, have cleaner breath When you're facin' nuclear death" And then President John began to speak And I knew right away he wouldn't be weak Well, he said he'd seen some missile bases And terrible smiles on Cuban faces Close pictures, carryin' land reform too far Giving land to the USSR Well, he said we mustn't be afraid We're settin' up a little blockade Put our ships along the Cuban shores And if the Russian bear yells and roars We'll let him have it From Turkey and Greece, Formosa and Spain The peaceful West European Plain From Alaska and Greenland we'll use our means And twenty thousand submarines We're gonna teach the Russians a lesson For trying to upset the balance of power Now most Americans stood behind The President and his military minds But me, I stood behind a bar Dreamin' of a spaceship getaway car Head for mars, any other planet that has bars Like Gerde's Folk City Yes, it seemed the stand was strong and plain But some Republicans was a goin' insane And they still are, well, they said our plan was just too mild Spare the rod and spoil the child Let's sink Cuba into the sea And give 'em back democracy under the water Well, the deadline was set for ten o'clock For a cold war it was a gettin' hot Well, the Russians tried, the Russians failed Homeward bound those missiles sailed Mr. Khruschev said, "Better Red than dead"