What Can You Do With the General - Peggy Lee, Ирвинг Берлин

When the war was over, why, there were jobs galore

For the G.I.

Josephs who were in the war

But for generals things were not so grand

And it’s not so hard to understand

What can you do with a general

When he stops being a general?

Oh, what can you do with a general who retires?

Who’s got a job for a general

When he stops being a general?

They all get a job but a general no one hires

They fill his chest with medals while he’s across the foam

And they spread the crimson carpet when he comes marching home

The next day someone hollers when he comes into view

«Here comes the general» and they all say «General who?»

They’re delighted that he came

But they can’t recall his name

Nobody thinks of assigning him

When they stop wining and dining him

It seems this country never has enjoyed

So many one and two and three and four star generals

Unemployed