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Release Here They Are!
Year 1962
Label World Pacific # WP-1806
Format LP · Album
Country USA
Language English
Songs here 2 in the archive
Citation: Justin A. Brummer, Vietnam War Song Project (VWSP) — The Goldcoast Singers, Here They Are!; cite each song by its SongID

Here They Are!

1962 · Album · World Pacific # WP-1806 · USA
2 songs from this release are in the archive, listed below in catalogue order. Track positions are not recorded; the release may carry other songs that do not reference the war.
Annotation
The Goldcoast Singers took a satirical approach to the draft, expressing their reluctance to head out to war in the song "Please Mr. Kennedy" (World Pacific Records # WP-1806). The duo met in 1959 while at college in Fresno, California, and formed the group soon after while studying in Monterey, probably around 1960-1961. George Cromarty, seen on the left of the album cover, and Ed Rush, seen on the right, were occasionally joined by the female vocalist Melinda Stevens. While in San Francisco in March 1962, the San Francisco State Folk Festival (held at the state college) invited the duo to play to an audience of 1000, which they recorded and released on this LP. Produced by Richard Book, well-known on the West Coast jazz scene.1

Billboard reviewed the album on 3 November 1962, giving it four stars, and saying that "the two men that make up this pop-folk group have an iconoclastic bent, and their material is funny as well as irreverent. Each of the tunes is something of a story and almost all have a touch of humor. The album was recorded in concert at San Francisco State College".2 In the spoken-word introduction, the duo explained how they were required to attend the draft board for their physical examination, where they came across a group looking "cold and miserable" but singing a song that "expressed the sentiments of everybody" .

And so the duo started to sing the song, which pleaded with President Kennedy not to send them off to war. It made no reference specifically to Vietnam, but actually focused on the fight with the Soviet Union, and included some Cold War imagery: "the shelter is ready...in case old Khrushchev decides to attack" - a reference to the Russian leader, and the threat of nuclear war. It also referred to two future presidents, both of whom would later be heavily involved in developing Vietnam War policy - the then vice president Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon, the defeated 1960 presidential candidate. In the very last verse, the duo pleaded with JFK's wife Jackie to reason with the president.
There are several songs with a similar title, that pleaded with the president
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Collections
Songs from this release appear in these 2 curated collections.
The songs
1.
1962 · Album · World Pacific # WP-1806 · Los Angeles, California · Here They Are!

Formed Monterey, California, USA.

2.
1962 · Album · World Pacific # WP-1806 · Los Angeles, California · Here They Are!

Formed Monterey, California, USA.

Theme: Anti-War