Ballad for a Soldier

Annotation

Asylum Choir - featuring Leon Russell (keyboards) and Marc Benno (guitar) - released the track "Ballad for a Soldier" (Shelter Records # SW-8910), which drew comparisons between the idea of being a war hero as seen in films and the actual reality of warfare. It did not mention Calley or My Lai directly, but, the narrator (in the Calley role), told the listener that he did not know "how many babies I had killed that night", until he saw the "color photographs inside of a magazine" - a clear reference to the Ronald L. Haeberle photographs, originally published in black & white in the Plain Dealer on 20 November 1969, and a couple weeks later, in Life Magazine, which printed them in colour, on 5 December 1969. Overall this track took an anti-war position, criticising the actions of Calley.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: When I was just a young boy I played with swords and guns / And I dreamed of the day I'd become a soldier... / The general gave the order, gladly I obeyed... / And now I stand alone with the charges made / Nowhere to run, not a place to hide... / It's just another ballad for a soldier / I had no understanding 'till I saw my mother cry / When they told how many babies I had killed that night / A dozen color photographs inside of a magazine told the morbid story like a movie screen / But I was not the hero I thought myself to be / Movies are much different than reality... / We're all little children playing grown-up games / There are no more ballads for the soldiers

Notes

Shelter Records SW-8910 (SW 2-8910), stereo, orange label, "Distributed by Capitol Records, Inc."; label credits "The Asylum Choir", cover credits "Leon Russell & Marc Benno"; "Ballad for a Soldier" (Leon Russell), 4:24, side 2 track 4, all selections BMI. Back cover: produced by Leon Russell & Marc Benno, April 1969; recorded at Skyhill Studios, Los Angeles; "Hello, Little Friend" Cordell-Russell Music Co., all other songs Skyhill Publishing Co., Inc. (BMI); cover illustration Gagliano, liner photograph Carl Radle, photographics Ed Caraeff, design Wayne Kimbell; Shelter Recording Co. Inc., 5112 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles. The front cover is a pale airbrushed double portrait of the two musicians; the back shows them at the studio mixing desk. [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

Leon Russel - born 2 April 1942, Lawton, Oklahoma, USA. Died 13 November 2016, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.

Themes

My Lai · Protest · Anti-Calley · Anti-War

In collections

My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]