Cancion para un nino de Viet-Nam

Annotation

Political activist and musician Judith Reyes, born 22 March 1924, in Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas, Mexico, she died on 27 December 1988. The track "Cancion para un niño de Vietnam", which means "Song for a Child From Vietnam" takes an anti-war position, looking at the Vietnamese perspective, referring to the US soldiers that arrived from a distant land "that wounds and kills and burns your rice paddies". The narrator strongly condemned the American presence: "the gringo is the shame of humanity, if the gringo leaves you will see me happy". The back of the picture sleeve expressed anti-American, anti-imperialist sentiment, showing solidarity with Vietnam and countries across Central and South America: "the voice and the word of each verse of Judith Reyes are the instrument of the anxieties and urgent needs for justice, peace and freedom of the people of Mexico whom she loves so much. And, in her desperate impatience, she also calls with her songs to other peoples of the world; Viet Nam, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Nicaragua, to share with them those desires and thus make the sentence of condemnation against Yankee imperialism more universal; 'shame of humanity', sole culprit of all our misadventures". (Spanish: "La voz y la palabra de cado verso de Judith Reyes son el instrumento de las ansias ye las urgentes necesidadesde de justicia, paz y libertad del pueblo de Mexico al que ella tanto ama. Y, en su desesperado impaciencia, llama tambien con sus cantos a otros pueblos del mundo; Viet Nam, Cuba, Venezuala, Colombia, Nicaragua, para compartir con ellos esos anhelos y hacer asi mas universal la frase condenatoria contra el imperialismo yanqui; 'verguenza de la humanidad', culpable unico de todas neustras desventuras"). The sleeve described the song as follows: "Song for a child from Vietnam" is a tender and moving lullaby that, paradoxically, contains a heartbreaking accusation against the shameful US imperialist invasion of that country". (Spanish: "Cancion para un niño de Vietnam", es una tierna y conmovedora cancion de cuna que, paradojicamente encierra una acusaion desgarradora contra la vergonzante invasion imperialista yanqui en ese pueblo"). For the lyrics below: Transcription by Eric Silberberg and Ignacia Morales Reyes. Translation by Eric Silberberg.1Sources1Cancion para un niño de Vietnam (Judith Reyes)↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Don Din Don Dan / Like a bell of bronze / Don Din Don Dan / Your name beats out / Vietnam Vietnam / Very strong for combat / And much more for pain and love / Don Din Don Dan / How sweet is the chord / Don Din Don Dan / In which your name is entwined / Vietnam Vietnam / Today the world around you / Don Din Don Dan / Repeats it in sorrow / He came from distant lands / From America beyond the seas / The man who wounds and kills / And burns your rice paddies / He blew poison into the air / He sank the ground beneath your step / He machine-gunned in the mountains / The child in your lap / Ay / If the gringo is here / What a calamity / The gringo is the shame / Of humanity / If the gringo leaves / You will see me happy / Because now my love / We will live in peace / Because now you and I / We will live in peace / Because now in Vietnam / We will live in peace / Because now in Saigon / We will live in peace / Because now in Vietnam / We will live in peace / Don Din Vietnam Don Dan __________ Spanish: Don Din Don Dan / Como campana de bronce / Don Din Don Dan / Tu nombre salgo que late / Vietnam Vietnam / Muy fuerte pa’ el combate / Y mucho más para el dolor y el amor / Don Din Don Dan / Que dulce es el acorde / Don Din Don Dan / En que se ‘lasa tu nombre / Vietnam Vietnam / Hoy lo repite doliente / Don Din Don Dan / El mundo en su alrededor / Llegó de lejanas tierras / De América tras los mares / El hombre que hiere y mata / Y quema tus arrozales / Veneno sopló en el aire…

Notes

33 R.P.M. 7-inch with three songs: Lado A "Los restos de don Porfirio" (jácara); Lado B "Canción para un niño de Viet-Nam" (canción de cuna) and "Gorilita, Gorilón" (canción ranchera), all "L. y M. de Judith Reyes", performed by Judith Reyes y su Guitarra; plain red label with no company name. The picture sleeve front, headed "Los restos de don Porfirio" – Canciones de Judith Reyes, shows Judith Reyes playing guitar; the back carries an unsigned Spanish essay presenting her as the voice of the Mexican people's longing for justice, peace and liberty, condemning "el imperialismo yanqui", and describing "Canción para un niño de Viet Nam" as "una tierna y conmovedora canción de cuna que, paradójicamente, encierra una acusación desgarradora contra la vergonzante invasión imperialista yanqui en ese pueblo". [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

Born 22 March 1924, Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Died 27 December 1988.

In collections

Latin & Central American, & Caribbean Music · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]