The Big Parade

Annotation

10,000 Maniacs, a popular alternative rock / jangle pop group formed in 1981, in Jamestown, New York, USA, which included the members Rob Buck, Natalie Merchant, Steve Gustafson, and Dennis Drew. They had several charting albums, including Blind Man's Zoo (Elektra Records # 9 60815-2), which reached # 13 in the US Billboard chart.1 The album dealt with several contemporary political issues, such as U.S. interventions in Central America and the Iran-Contra Affair, and environmental pollution. The song "The Big Parade" looked at a family visit to the Vietnam memorial wall in Washington - a man recalled his brother's letters: "in a jungle town postmarked Saigon". The brother knew the exact location of the name: "it's 40 paces to the year that he was slain". He witnessed others visiting the wall, including a "tour of Japanese", an "ex-marine", and a "widow" with her "Purple Heart" - a reference to the military medal. At the end of the song, the narrator wondered who was to blame for the war and the deaths: "was it Washington or the Viet Cong?". It ended on an anti-war note, although slightly strange, suggesting the Civil War was not an honest war (no mention of slavery!): "toward the other monuments...Abraham had his war too...an honest war...so it's taught in school".Sources1Wikipedia: Blind Man's Zoo↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Veterans Memorial Wall Songs

10,000 Maniacs, a popular alternative rock / jangle pop group formed in 1981, in Jamestown, New York, USA, which included the members Rob Buck, Natalie Merchant, Steve Gustafson, and Dennis Drew. They had several charting albums, including Blind Man's Zoo (Elektra Records # 9 60815-2), which reached # 13 in the US Billboard chart.1 The album dealt with several contemporary political issues, such as U.S. interventions in Central America and the Iran-Contra Affair, and environmental pollution. The song "The Big Parade" looked at a family visit to the Vietnam memorial wall in Washington - a man recalled his brother's letters: "in a jungle town postmarked Saigon". The brother knew the exact location of the name: "it's 40 paces to the year that he was slain". He witnessed others visiting the wall, including a "tour of Japanese", an "ex-marine", and a "widow" with her "Purple Heart" - a reference to the military medal. At the end of the song, the narrator wondered who was to blame for the war and the deaths: "was it Washington or the Viet Cong?". It ended on an anti-war note, although slightly strange, suggesting the Civil War was not an honest war (no mention of slavery!): "toward the other monuments...Abraham had his war too...an honest war...so it's taught in school". Sources1Wikipedia: Blind Man's Zoo↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Detroit to D.C., night train, capitol, parts east / Lone young man takes a seat / And by the rhythm of the rails / Reading all his mother's mail / From a city boy in a jungle town / Postmarked Saigon / He'll go live his mother's dream / Join the slowest parade he'll ever see / Her weight of sorrows carried long and carried far / "Take these, Tommy, to the wall" / Metro line to the mall site with a tour of Japanese / He's wandering and lost until / A vet in worn fatigues / Takes him down to where they belong / Near a soldier, an ex-marine / With a tattooed dagger and eagle trembling / He bites his lip beside a widow breaking down / She takes her purple heart, makes a fist, strikes the wall / All come to live a dream / To join the slowest parade they'll ever see / Their weight of sorrows carried long and carried far / Taken to the wall / It's 40 paces to the year that he was slain / His hand's slipping down the wall for it's slick with rain / How would life have ever been the same / If this wall had carved in it one less name? / But for Christ's sake, he's been dead over 20 years / He leaves the letters asking / "Who caused my mother's tears / Was it Washington or the Viet Cong?" / Slow deliberate steps are involved / He takes them away from the black granite wall / Toward the other monuments so white and clean / O, Potomac, what you've seen / Abraham had his war too / But an honest war / Or so it's taught in school

About the artist

American alternative rock band formed 1981 in Jamestown, New York. [Source: Wikipedia]

Themes

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall · Vet · Purple Heart · Medals · VC · Saigon

In collections

Veterans Memorial Wall Songs