19

Annotation

Paul Hardcastle, born 10 December 1957 in London, UK. The track "19" (Chrysalis # CHS 2860), a synth pop record, featured samples of television narrator Peter Thomas speaking about the Vietnam war, throwing in claims about the impact of the war on veterans, and as suggested in the title, the age of those who fought in the war. Some of these claims and statistics are disputed. It also featured documentary recordings, of newsreaders reporting about the Vietnam War. Hardcastle took this narration from the 1984 ABC television documentary "Vietnam Requiem". This single received a massive audience, hitting the # 1 spot in eleven different countries, including in the UK and Germany. In the US, it reached # 15 in the Billboard Hot 100 on 20 July 1985.1 A week earlier, on 13 July 1985, the single reached # 1 in the US Billboard Hot Dance/Disco chart.2 Note that Harcastle released several alternative versions of this single - the 7", and several 12" additions, including 19 / Fly by Night / Dolores / The Asylum (It'z Weird) (Chrysalis # CHS 22 2860) and 19 (The Final Story) / King Tut / Fly by Night (Chrysalis # CHS 322860). The song addressed several interesting issues, typically found in post-war Vietnam songs. Firstly, the song compared the average age of US soldiers in Vietnam to World War Two, suggesting a significant toll and impact of Vietnam on the youth of America. Secondly, the song claimed that the war had a negative impact on veterans through Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): "many vets complain of alienation, rage or guilt, some succumb to suicidal thoughts". Thirdly, and related to the above, the song claimed that large numbers of Vietnam veterans entered into crime: "their arrest rate is almost twice that of non-veterans". It claimed that those vets most exposed to the violence faced the most problems when they returned home, describing the situation as "destruction of men in their prime". Fourthly, the song noted that "none of them received a hero's welcome", in contrast to the those that fought in the Second World War. The Vietnam vets thought that they needed "to be ashamed" of their role in the war. This partly reflected on the "Vietnam Syndrome", as discussed above, in which veterans may have felt guilt or shame about the war, influenced by the domestic climate they returned to in the US.Sources1Billboard, 20 July 1985↩2Billboard, 13 July 1985↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: In 1965 Vietnam seemed like just another foreign war but it wasn't / It was different in many ways, as so were those that did the fighting / In World War II the average age of the combat soldier was 26 / In Vietnam he was 19, in-in-in Vietnam he was 19 / The shooting and fighting of the past two weeks continued today / 25 miles west of Saigon, I really wasn't sure what was going on / In Vietnam the combat soldier typically served a twelve month tour of duty / But was exposed to hostile fire almost everyday, Ni-ni-ni 19, Ni-ni-ni 19 / Hundreds of thousands of men who saw heavy combat in Vietnam were arrested since discharge / Their arrest rate is almost twice that of non-veterans... / But a Veterans Administration study concludes that the greater of vets exposure to combat could more likely affect his chances of being arrested or convicted / This is one legacy of the Vietnam War / All those who remember the war / They won't forget what they've seen, destruction of men in their prime / After World War II the men came home together on troop ships / But the Vietnam vet often arrived home within 48 hours of jungle combat / Perhaps the most dramatic difference between World War II and Vietnam was coming home / None of them received a hero's welcome / According to a Veteran's Administration study, half of the Vietnam combat veterans suffered from what psychiatrists call Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder / Many vets complain of alienation, rage or guilt, some succumb to…

Notes

Chrysalis CHS 12 2860; the picture sleeve front prints "Paul Hardcastle" in green and a large red "19" over a smoky photograph of two helmeted soldiers running with rifles, a tank behind them. [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

English composer-producer, born 10 December 1957 in London; his 1985 electro hit '19' sampled Vietnam War documentary narration. [Source: Wikipedia]

Themes

Anti-War · Soldier's Perspective

In collections

European Songs