Back to Vietnam

Annotation

British post-punk, neo-Psychedelic group, formed in London in 1977, led by song-writer Daniel Treacy (guitars and vocals), the sole constant member of a revolving line-up. According to the linear notes of this album, the group recorded the songs in 1982/83 at the 'Hit Factory', featuring David Musker, Mark Flunder, Ingrid Weiss, David Walmsley and Martin Kerry-Daley. It also included Joe Foster on bass, also known as Slaughter Joe, who released the Vietnam-related song Napalm Girl (Creation Records # CRE 019) in 1985. The 7-minute plus song "Back to Vietnam" (Illuminated Records # JAMS 37) dealt with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It described a war veteran dreaming of "running in the jungle", who then woke up screaming, thinking that the government might send him back to Vietnam. It is then revealed that the veteran lived in an institution, wheelchair bound. The track also included a double-meaning, as the narrator took a general anti-war stance: "it's all the same: Vietnam, Korea, First World War, Argentina, Falkland Islands, another war, what is it for?" - thus, the group used the Vietnam example as a way to protest against the UK's involvement in the 1982 Falkland's War. Note the reference to Richard Nixon in the final line.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Punk Songs

British Post-Punk, neo-Psychedelic group, formed in London in 1977, led by song-writer Daniel Treacy (guitars and vocals), the sole constant member of a revolving line-up. According to the linear notes of this album, the group recorded the songs in 1982/83 at the 'Hit Factory', featuring David Musker, Mark Flunder, Ingrid Weiss, David Walmsley and Martin Kerry-Daley. It also included Joe Foster on bass, also known as Slaughter Joe, who released the Vietnam-related song Napalm Girl (Creation Records # CRE 019) in 1985. The 7-minute plus song "Back to Vietnam" (Illuminated Records # JAMS 37) dealt with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It described a war veteran dreaming of "running in the jungle", who then woke up screaming, thinking that the government might send him back to Vietnam. It is then revealed that the veteran lived in an institution, wheelchair bound. The track also included a double-meaning, as the narrator took a general anti-war stance: "it's all the same: Vietnam, Korea, First World War, Argentina, Falkland Islands, another war, what is it for?" - thus, the group used the Vietnam example as a way to protest against the UK's involvement in the 1982 Falkland's War. Note the reference to Richard Nixon in the final line.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: He wakes up screaming, he wakes up in a cold sweat / He dreams he's going to get a letter in the post / Telling him he's been called up again / They're calling up the national guard / They'll send him back...back to Vietnam / He's running in the jungle, he's running with a bayonet, with a machine gun... / The enemy he can't see...but...knows they're there / He's aware and all around he hears gunfire / He's caught on fire, he's so frightened... / They're bringing back conscription, they're going to give everyone over seventeen a gun / And the housewife in the kitchen all she can think of is what to give her husband for tea... / Do we have to go through it all again? / It's all the same: Vietnam, Korea, First World War., Argentina, Falkland Islands, another war, what is it for? / Now he's in a home for Vietnam refugees / He's frightened, he's in an institution / He's in a wheelchair / War is the last creative act / I thought we might of learned some lesson / Richard Nixon on Channel Eleven, I heard it first

About the artist

English post-punk band formed 1977 in London. [Source: Wikipedia]

Themes

Anti-War · Draft

In collections

Draft Songs · European Songs · Punk Songs