And They Were Five
1970 · Laurie 3529 · New York City, New York
- Artist
- Zabka
- Title
- And They Were Five
- Release
- And They Were Five / Searching Wind
- Year
- 1970
- Label
- Laurie # 3529
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- New York City, New York, USA
- Songwriter
- Stan Zabka
- Genre
- Traditional Pop · Traditional Pop · Vocal Group
- Primary theme
- Home Front Perspective / Soldier's Perspective
Annotation
And They Were Five (Zabka) (Laurie Records # 3529) Plight of the soldier. Killed in action (K.I.A.) by a land mine. Vocal group, traditional pop. Composed by Stan Zabka - he served in the army during WW2 and the Korean War. Runs the publishing company Big Island Music Inc.1 Arranged by Jim Tyler. Based on the true story of five brothers killed in Vietnam, originally from New Hampshire, USA. He made an 8 minute promotional film to go with the song.2345 And they were five, and the five came home, home to the Anxious hearts waiting...home to rest, to live no more"Sources1Big Island Music, Inc. (Stan and Nancy Zabka): About us↩2zabka.com (archived copy)↩3zabka.com (archived copy)↩4worldcat.org: And they were five↩5ascap.com: Stepping out↩
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: They first touched down in a jungle spot not far from Company A / Having gotten the nod to join up with the squad who lost a few / Men that day, it was raining that night, charlie moved to strike / Under cover of mud and rain, when the smoke had cleared / Only five survived, replacement were needed again, and again / The faces of war were everywhere, like the scene down at / Company 3, men with their stares, the barbed wire fence / Hungry men is what the GIs see, and watched what was thrown / Away, so much was thrown away, another face on a night patrol / A child hiding in the grass...and where was his mother / He had no mother, maybe the woman laid down in the cave nearby / Would take him in, they found her feeding a babe she saved / When the VC came for her kin, the poor, she took him in, why not / But now its home for the five her served their time with Company A / Young and strong and full of life, it's back to the USA, they loaded up / In an hour and a half, drove in heavy rain, when a land mine exploded / And ended their life before they could get to their plane / And they were five, and the five came home, home to the / Anxious hearts waiting...home to rest, to live no more
Notes
Laurie Records Inc., New York, record no. LR 3529, "Advance Release" label with pink-and-black panels, matrix X4KM-1587; "And They Were Five" (Stan Zabka), S & J Music Pub. Corp., ASCAP, time 3:34; produced by Plano for Big Island Prod., arranged by Jim Tyler. [From the record sleeve and labels]
About the artist
Big Island Music Inc. Arranged by Jim Tyler