Lyrks
Lyrks
Cover Art

Slaughterhouse- Five MWS Extract 1 Lyrics by Kurt Vonnegut

0

All this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true. One guy I knew really was shot for taking a teapot that wasn't his. Another guy I knew really did threaten to have his personal enemies killed by hired gunmen after the war. And so on. I've changed all their names.

I really did go to Dresden with Guggenheim money (God love it) in 1967. It looked a lot like Dayton, Ohio, more open spaces than Dayton has. There must be tons of human bone meal in the ground.

I went back there with an old war buddy, Bernard V. O'Hare, and we made friends with a cab driver, who took us to the slaughterhouse where we had been locked up at night as prisoners of war. His name was Gerhard Müller. He told us that he was a prisoner of the Americans for a while. We asked him how it was to live under Communism, and he said that it was terrible at first, because everybody had to work so hard, and because there wasn't much shelter or food or clothing. But things were much better now. He had a pleasant little apartment, and his daughter was getting an excellent education. His mother was incinerated in the Dresden fire-storm. So it goes.

He sent O'Hare a postcard at Christmastime, and here is what it said:

"I wish you and your family also as to your friend a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year and I hope that we'll meet again in a world of peace and freedom in the taxicab if the accident will."
I like that very much: "If the accident will."

I would hate to tell you what this lousy little book cost me in money and anxiety and time. When I got home from the Second World War twenty-three years ago, I thought it would be easy for me to write about the destruction of Dresden, since all I would have to do would be to report what I had seen. And I thought, too, that it would be a masterpiece or at least make me a lot of money, since the subject was so big.

But not many words about Dresden came from my mind then - not enough of them to make a book, anyway. And not many words come now, either, when I have become an old fart with his memories and his Pall Malls, with his sons full grown.

I think of how useless the Dresden part of my memory has been, and yet how tempting Dresden has been to write about, and I am reminded of the famous limerick:

There was a young man from Stamboul,
Who soliloquized thus to his tool:
"You took all my wealth
and you ruined my health,
and now you won't pee, you old fool."

And I'm reminded, too, of the song that goes:

My name is Yon Yonson,
I work in Wisconsin,
I work in a lumbermill there.
The people I meet when I walk down the street,
They say, "What's your name?"
And I say,
"My name is Yon Yonson,
I work in Wisconsin..."

And so on to infinity.
Credits
Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut

About “Slaughterhouse- Five MWS Extract 1” by Kurt Vonnegut

Read the complete lyrics to "Slaughterhouse- Five MWS Extract 1" by Kurt Vonnegut. On Lyrks you can follow along with the full text, explore the artist's discography, and discover related songs. The track is often categorized under Non-Music, Literature.

"Slaughterhouse- Five MWS Extract 1" is performed by Kurt Vonnegut. This page provides the full lyric text for fans who want to sing along, study the songwriting, or compare versions across releases. Lyrks organizes lyrics by artist and song slug so you can bookmark and share a stable URL. Music lyrics help listeners connect with emotion, narrative, and rhythm in a track. Whether you are learning English, researching a favorite chorus, or preparing for karaoke, having accurate line breaks and section labels (verse, chorus, bridge) makes the experience easier. We link to the official artist profile on Lyrks where available, including biography snippets, top songs, and chart placements when we have that data. If you enjoy "Slaughterhouse- Five MWS Extract 1", explore more songs by Kurt Vonnegut using the links below. Chart and trending pages on Lyrks highlight what listeners are searching for this week. For copyright or correction requests, see our DMCA and contact pages.

View all songs and biography for Kurt Vonnegut · Trending lyrics · Billboard Hot 100

Frequently asked questions

"Slaughterhouse- Five MWS Extract 1" is credited to Kurt Vonnegut. Songwriting credits may include additional writers listed on the release; check the credits section on this page for linked collaborators.

Album information for "Slaughterhouse- Five MWS Extract 1" is not available in our database yet. You can still read the full lyrics on this page.

Visit the Kurt Vonnegut artist page at /artist/kurt-vonnegut for biography, popular tracks, and links to more lyric pages.

Letter to Drake High School
Harrison Bergeron (Madden Text Set)
Cat’s Cradle- Chaper One: The Day the World Ended
Harrison Bergeron
Joe Heller
2 B R 0 2 B
Commencement Address at Rice University
Letter on Vonnegut’s Daily Routine
Lyrks
Lyrks

Your gateway to the world of music lyrics.

Product

Features

Company

About

Artists

Trending

Legal

Privacy

Terms

Copyright

Support

Contact

Features

Charts

© 2026 Lyrks. All rights reserved.