Blue Viet Nam Skies

Annotation

"Blue Viet Nam Skies" (Rebel # F-258) Buzz Busby (1933-2003), born Eros, Louisiana. 1 2 Recorded Baltimore, Maryland, 1965. Busby (vocals, mandolin), Charlie Waller (guitar), Billy Baker (fiddle), Johnnie Whisnant (banjo), Tom Gray (bass). Bluegrass. Patriotic sentiment, fighting for "right of freedom". A soldier visited the grave of his war buddy in the US, while recalling the fighting back in Vietnam. Plight of soldier, as well as home front. Tears fall in the valley, for it's here where my brother lies"Sources1The Encyclopedia of Country Music (Michael McCall, 2012)↩2Buzz Busby session discography↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs

"Blue Viet Nam Skies" (Rebel # F-258) Buzz Busby (1933-2003), born Eros, Louisiana. 1 2 Recorded Baltimore, Maryland, 1965. Busby (vocals, mandolin), Charlie Waller (guitar), Billy Baker (fiddle), Johnnie Whisnant (banjo), Tom Gray (bass). Bluegrass. Patriotic sentiment, fighting for "right of freedom". A soldier visited the grave of his war buddy in the US, while recalling the fighting back in Vietnam. Plight of soldier, as well as home front.Sources1The Encyclopedia of Country Music (Michael McCall, 2012)↩2Buzz Busby session discography↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: As I wondered down the valley many tears fell down my eyes / And it seemed that someone waits there beneath blue Vietnam skies / And the tears fall in the valley for it's here that my buddies lie... / As I walked between the crosses from heaven he seemed to say / Oh buddy, the flowers are in bloom again, but I knew you'd come today / For the god given right of freedom many a brave man had died / For we watched, and we prayed, and we suffered as we fought hard side by side / But I can't help but wonder how many more must die / Until victory's promise rains through, beneath blue Vietnam skies / Tears fall in the valley, for it's here where my brother lies

Notes

Rebel F-258 (SoN 29652), 45 R.P.M., white label with crossed Confederate flags marked "Promotional copy", "Dist. by Sound of Nashville, Inc., 160 2nd Ave. S., Nashville, Tennessee"; "Blue Viet Nam Skies" (Kliewer, Mank & Bucke), 2:32, Zap Pub. Co. BMI. [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

Buzz Busby (Bernarr Graham Busbice, 1933-2003), born in Eros, Louisiana, was a pioneering bluegrass mandolinist known as the 'Father of Washington, D.C. Bluegrass', leading the Bayou Boys from the early 1950s on Starday, Jiffy and Rebel; 'Blue Viet Nam Skies' (Rebel F-258, 1966) was cut in Baltimore with Charlie Waller and Tom Gray. He died in Catonsville, Maryland. [Source: Wikipedia; Praguefrank's]

Themes

Patriotic · Soldier's Perspective

In collections

US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs [War Years]