The song "Saigon Warrior" is a comedy addressed to American GIs, which Gober wrote while touring around the hospitals in Vietnam. The lyrics criticised those who spent a lot of time in Saigon: "helping fight a war, pushing a pencil my finger is getting sore" . It also focused on GIs visiting prostitutes in the Saigon bars, referencing the famous "Tu Do Street" , the main location of these establishments. Tu Do translated as "Liberty", called that between 1955 and 1975. Formerly known as Catinat street (pre-1955), Hanoi re-named it Dông Khoï ("General Insurrection") after the fall of Saigon.2
This may be some sort of variation on another song, with the same name, but similar theme: "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:
Born 21 December 1936, Monticello, Arkansas, USA
Born 21 December 1936, Monticello, Arkansas, USA
Born 21 December 1936, Monticello, Arkansas, USA
Born 21 December 1936, Monticello, Arkansas, USA
Born 21 December 1936, Monticello, Arkansas, USA
Born 21 December 1936, Monticello, Arkansas, USA
Tee Pee Records 834T-4533, red label, "A Subsidiary of Target Records, Appleton, Wis.", produced by Target Productions, ALPO Music; "Here Am I" (H. Gober), T45-34, 2:27, matrix UK4M-2906, backed with "Picture of a Man" (H. Gober), T45-33, 3:20, matrix UK4M-2905; credited to Capt. Hershel Gober. The LP The Proud American, Patriot Records 91140, Dermott, Ark., blue labels, 33 1/3 RPM: side one "Proud American" 2:45, "Six Klicks" 2:50, "Look Over My Shoulder" 3:46, "Here Am I" 4:00, "Forgotten Man" 2:45; side two "Saigon Warrior" 5:56, "Tropic Rain" 3:54, "Picture of a Man" 3:28, "Birth of a Nation" 3:10, "An American's Dream" 5:02, "Closing"; "All songs written and recorded by Hershel Gober", with Pamco Music credited for "The Proud American", "Here Am I" and "Forgotten Man". The front cover shows Gober in Army uniform playing guitar at a microphone before a waving American flag; the back has a photograph captioned "Hershel singing for two friends at Cam Ranh Bay Vietnam" and notes saying the songs were written in Vietnam, where he served twice as a combat soldier, that he performed there for the President of the United States, General Westmoreland and Premier Ky, and that he appeared on "The Mike Douglas Show" and in an ABC-TV Scope programme entitled "The Singing Soldier"; Patriot Records, 324 South Main Street, Dermott, Arkansas 71638. Also pictured is the ABC-Paramount single 45-10810 (AMP 45-13233), promotion copy not for sale: "Proud American" (1st Lt. Hershel Gober), 2:35, Pamco Music BMI, produced by Bob Thiele, arranged and conducted by Peter DeAngelis, in an ABC Records 10810 picture sleeve titled "I Need You So / Proud American — Lieutenant Hershel Gober" showing him seated in fatigues with an electric guitar, the back printed as an ABC-Paramount press release describing him as a singing, songwriting GI and adviser to Vietnamese militia forces in the Delta whose songs were taped in Saigon. [From the record sleeve and labels]
Tee Pee Records 834T-4533, red label, "A Subsidiary of Target Records, Appleton, Wis.", produced by Target Productions, ALPO Music; "Here Am I" (H. Gober), T45-34, 2:27, matrix UK4M-2906, backed with "Picture of a Man" (H. Gober), T45-33, 3:20, matrix UK4M-2905; credited to Capt. Hershel Gober. The LP The Proud American, Patriot Records 91140, Dermott, Ark., blue labels, 33 1/3 RPM: side one "Proud American" 2:45, "Six Klicks" 2:50, "Look Over My Shoulder" 3:46, "Here Am I" 4:00, "Forgotten Man" 2:45; side two "Saigon Warrior" 5:56, "Tropic Rain" 3:54, "Picture of a Man" 3:28, "Birth of a Nation" 3:10, "An American's Dream" 5:02, "Closing"; "All songs written and recorded by Hershel Gober", with Pamco Music credited for "The Proud American", "Here Am I" and "Forgotten Man". The front cover shows Gober in Army uniform playing guitar at a microphone before a waving American flag; the back has a photograph captioned "Hershel singing for two friends at Cam Ranh Bay Vietnam" and notes saying the songs were written in Vietnam, where he served twice as a combat soldier, that he performed there for the President of the United States, General Westmoreland and Premier Ky, and that he appeared on "The Mike Douglas Show" and in an ABC-TV Scope programme entitled "The Singing Soldier"; Patriot Records, 324 South Main Street, Dermott, Arkansas 71638. Also pictured is the ABC-Paramount single 45-10810 (AMP 45-13233), promotion copy not for sale: "Proud American" (1st Lt. Hershel Gober), 2:35, Pamco Music BMI, produced by Bob Thiele, arranged and conducted by Peter DeAngelis, in an ABC Records 10810 picture sleeve titled "I Need You So / Proud American — Lieutenant Hershel Gober" showing him seated in fatigues with an electric guitar, the back printed as an ABC-Paramount press release describing him as a singing, songwriting GI and adviser to Vietnamese militia forces in the Delta whose songs were taped in Saigon. [From the record sleeve and labels]
Born 21 December 1936, Monticello, Arkansas, USA
Born 21 December 1936, Monticello, Arkansas, USA
Born 21 December 1936, Monticello, Arkansas, USA