Archive › Albums & compilations › ...Next Stop Is Vietnam (The War on Record: 1961-2008)
Scan filed under “Saigon Warrior” · all scans →
Release ...Next Stop Is Vietnam (The War on Record: 1961-2008)
Year 1967–2010
Label Bear Family # BCD 16070
Format CD · Archival
Country Australia
Language English
Songs here 2 in the archive
Citation: Justin A. Brummer, Vietnam War Song Project (VWSP) — Various Artists, ...Next Stop Is Vietnam (The War on Record: 1961-2008); cite each song by its SongID

...Next Stop Is Vietnam (The War on Record: 1961-2008)

1967 · Archival · Bear Family # BCD 16070 · Australia
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. Most common themes: Soldier's Perspective.
Annotation
The ultimate Vietnam War compilation, released by Bear Family Records, it includes 13 discs, 334 tracks, and a 304 page booklet. In fact you can spend 16 hours and 49 minutes listening to Vietnam War songs if you like. Hugo Keesing, a popular music collector and teacher (formerly at the University of Maryland) produced the compilation, and help to find, select, and evaluate most the songs included - his personal collection of Vietnam War songs stretches into the thousands. Also see The Keesing Collection on Popular Music and Culture.1 It is split into various themes, such as veterans, the patriotic, the draft, the protest movement, the plight of the soldiers etc.

The compilation included a few songs from Australia. One of those is particularly significant - "Saigon Warrior" performed by Maggie, an unknown Australian artist, recorded in-country during the war - one of the rare female performances from the Vietnam War. According to the article "Songs of the Vietnam War: An Occupational Folklore Tradition", by Dr. Les Cleveland (1986)1:

According to the 1991 compilation In Country: Folk Songs of Americans in the Vietnam War, compiled Lydia Fish, which featured a version by US veteran Saul Broudy:
Booklet notes
A song called "Saigon Warrior" (Broudy 1969) sung to the tune of "Sweet Betsy From Pike" is a variant of a World War 2 composition which could be used to complain about base camps, training establishments, or headquarters anywhere in the world. For instance, a version sung in the New Zealand Army during World War 2 (and still in circulation in 1986) was entitled "Waiouru's a Wonderful Place"... The "Saigon Warrior" variant of this song collected in Vietnam by Broudy... Broudy states that the text was transcribed from a tape-recorded performance by Maggie, an Australian woman. This suggests that it may either have been part of some Australian-inspired entertainment, or it may have originated with the ANZAC forces in Vietnam. Dinky dau is a corruption of the Vietnamese die cai dau, literally sick the head, hence, meaning crazy. This makes no sense unless it is related to a traditional Australian folk ballad, current in World War 1 and 2, entitled "The Lousy Lance-Corporal" (Cleveland 1959, 1961, 1975, 1982; Tate 1982) which makes repetitive use of the expression "dinky die" as a chorus. This is a slang term meaning truly, emphatically, indisputably
Booklet notes
There are many military folksongs about rear echelon personnel. This one is descended from a British Army World War I song entitled "The Lousy Lance-Corporal." It circulated widely in Southeast Asia in both Army and Air Force tradition. It was sung by an Australian woman named Maggie as part of a song competition which provided the entertainment at a commanders' conference held at the Nha Trang headquarters of the 17th Aviation Group, in April, 1967. A tape of the concert was given to Saul Broudy by helicopter pilot and singer Gene Easley, who was later killed in action. (2)
Sources
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Collections
Songs from this release appear in these 2 curated collections.
The songs
1.
1967 · Archival · Bear Family # BCD 16070 · Australia · ...Next Stop Is Vietnam (The War on Record: 1961-2008)

Disc 7, track 6 of the 13-CD box (Germany, 2010; produced by Hugo Keesing). Recorded in-country in April 1967 from a tape given to Saul Broudy by the pilot Gene Easley; one of the rare female performances from the war. To the tune of "Sweet Betsy From Pike"; a variant of "The Lousy Lance-Corporal".

2.
2010 · Compilation · Bear Family # BCD 16070 · Germany

Bear Family BCD 16070, 13xCD box set with 304-page hardcover book, Germany, 2010; 334 songs and spoken-word recordings on the Vietnam War and its aftermath, 1961-2008, arranged by theme (speeches, news reports, PSAs, broadcasts, two discs by veterans). Compiled with notes by Hugo A. Keesing; history by Lois T. Vietri; oral history by Doug Bradley & Craig Werner; introduction by Country Joe McDonald. Entered as one release. [From Discogs and Bear Family]