Ballad of Daniel Ellsberg

Annotation

Born Raul Medina Garcia, most of his music was released under the name Johnny Chingas. He was born in Mexico, and immigrated to the US with his family as a child.12 The song "Ballad of Daniel Ellsberg" (Doré # 863) focused on the Pentagon Papers - a top-secret study on the history of US involvement in Vietnam, commissioned by the Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1967, and leaked to the New York Times and other newspapers by Pentagon official Daniel Ellsberg in 1971. Garcia took an anti-war position, praising Ellsberg for leaking the "truth about the war" as the man "who let the people know the score".Sources1last.fm: Johnny Chingas↩2Discogs: Johnny Chingas↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Ellsberg & Pentagon Papers Songs

Born Raul Medina Garcia, most of his music was released under the name Johnny Chingas. He was born in Mexico, and immigrated to the US with his family as a child - and thus a Mexican-American representation.12 The song "Ballad of Daniel Ellsberg" (Doré # 863) focused on the Pentagon Papers and Ellsberg as suggested in the title - it took an anti-war position, praising Ellsberg for leaking the "truth about the war" as the man "who let the people know the score".Sources1last.fm: Johnny Chingas↩2Discogs: Johnny Chingas↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Mexican-American / Hispanic Songs

Born Raul Medina Garcia, most of his music was released under the name Johnny Chingas. He was born in Mexico, and immigrated to the US with his family as a child.12 The song "Ballad of Daniel Ellsberg" (Doré # 863) focused on the Pentagon Papers - a top-secret study on the history of US involvement in Vietnam, commissioned by the Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1967, and leaked to the New York Times and other newspapers by Pentagon official Daniel Ellsberg in 1971. Garcia took an anti-war position, praising Ellsberg for leaking the "truth about the war" as the man "who let the people know the score".Songs about or referencing the Pentagon Papers: "Thank You Daniel Ellsberg" by Bloodrock "The Ballad of Daniel Ellsberg" by Rulie Garcia "No More Genocide" on the Holly Near album Hang In There "National Security Blues" by the novelty protest group Tricky Dick & The Kiss-Singers "Written in the Mind of Man (Song for Daniel Ellsberg)" by James Stein Sources1last.fm: Johnny Chingas↩2Discogs: Johnny Chingas↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Gather around me folks, I'll tell you all a story / Of a man who let the people know the score / Not for fame, not for riches, not for glory / He's the man who leaked the truth about the war / Well this man worked for a giant corporation / Whose main job is keeping secrets in a hush / He was aware of the problems in the nation / Sick and tired of all this beating around the bush / His position called for access to the files / Of some things that ought to make some folks ashamed / Seek them out of all those...guarded files, and expose, all the ones..to blame / Now the government has got him by the collar / You've got to pay because you've done wrong... / 2-3 years locked up in jail for this great scholar / For upsetting all the people in the land / That's the story of the man who leaked the story / Of a man who let people know the score / Not for fame, not for riches, not for glory / Told the people of the truth behind the war

Notes

Doré 863 (45-LJB-707), black label with feather logo; "The Ballad of Daniel Ellsberg" (Raul Garcia), time 2:04, Hillary Music Inc.-Katinga Music (BMI); arranged by John Greek, produced by Lew Bedell. [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

Rulie Garcia was a stage name of Raul Medina Garcia (born 1939/40 in Chihuahua, Mexico; died March 1992 of complications from diabetes at his home in Mission Hills, California, buried at San Fernando Mission Cemetery). He left Mexico in the 1950s, led Raul Garcia and the Imperials, and in the early 1970s recorded as Rulie Garcia - releasing "The Ballad Of Daniel Ellsberg" b/w "Moon Rover" (Dore Records 863, 1971), confirmed in his Discogs credits - and as "Rulie Garcia And The East L.A. Congregation". He later found fame as Johnny Chingas ("No Hablo Ingles", 1980; "Pachuco Volume 1", 1981).…

Themes

Anti-War · Daniel Ellsberg · Pentagon Papers

In collections

Ellsberg & Pentagon Papers Songs · Mexican-American / Hispanic Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]