A Plea for Calley
Boss SPS-231 · Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Artist
- Beverly Bixler
- Title
- A Plea for Calley
- Release
- A Plea for Calley / Welcome to My World
- Label
- Boss # SPS-231
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
- Songwriter
- Beverly Bixler
- Genre
- Pop · Adult Contemporary · Easy Listening · Pop
- Primary theme
- US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs
Annotation
Beverly Bixler, another obscure country artist, recorded the song "A Plea for Calley" (Boss Records # SPS-231) at the Benson Sound Studio, in Oklahoma City, OK (founded in 1968 by Larry Benson, and still running today).1 The narrator took a sympathetic view towards the plight of Calley, arguing that soldiers should not be judged for their actions in war: "who are we to judge a man's action under the stress and strain of battle". The track also said that all of society should share the guilt for training and sending US troops to fight in Vietnam (a similar point made by Pete Seeger in the anti-war song "Last Train to Nuremburg"): "if there is a guilt, we must all share". So this track did not take an anti-war or pro-government / patriotic stance, but pro-soldier, and provided a representation of the US domestic scene, post-Calley trial. No date is on record, but it referred to the Calley trial and his imprisonment, so probably released around or after 1971.Sources1bensonsound.com (archived copy)↩
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Annotation — My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs
Beverly Bixler, another obscure country artist, recorded the song "A Plea for Calley" (Boss Records # SPS-231) at the Benson Sound Studio, in Oklahoma City, OK (founded in 1968 by Larry Benson, and still running today).1 The narrator took a sympathetic view towards the plight of Calley, arguing that soldiers should not be judged for their actions in war: "who are we to judge a man's action under the stress and strain of battle". The track also said that all of society should share the guilt for training and sending US troops to fight in Vietnam (a similar point made by Pete Seeger in the anti-war song "Last Train to Nuremburg"): "if there is a guilt, we must all share". So this track did not take an anti-war or pro-government / patriotic stance, but pro-soldier, and provided a representation of the US domestic scene, post-Calley trial. No date is on record, but it referred to the Calley trial and his imprisonment, so probably released around or after 1971. Sources1bensonsound.com (archived copy)↩
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: In every war there's always a situation that causes much controversy / Who are we to judge a man's action under the stress and strain of battle / The court room is now open and Calley is on trial for doing what his country asked of him / Vietnam is no nice place, there is no one there you can really trust / In My Lai he took his troops to meet the enemy, never knowing who the enemy might be / How many men have died, who trusted young and old, and the women in the village of My Lai... / Now if there is a guilt, we must all share... / The fact that he was trained to kill or die / Our nation is in an uproar for the burden he must bear, together we can free our man Calley
Notes
Boss Records SPS-231-A, yellow label, stereo; "A Plea for Calley" (Bixler), Okie Pub. Co., BMI, time 2:13; recorded by Benson Sound Studio, Okla. City, Okla. [From the record sleeve and labels]
Themes
My Lai · Pro-Calley · Patriotic · Calley-Order · Calley-Chaos · Pro-Soldier
In collections
My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs · US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs [War Years]