Copperhead Road

Annotation

Steve Earle, Americana, country-rock artist, born 17 January 1955 in Fort Monroe, Virginia, USA. He released the song "Copperhead Road" (Uni Records # UNI-7), a post-Vietnam War song concerned with veterans. It starts with the young man, from a moonshine bootlegging family, joining the army: "I volunteered for the Army on my birthday...done two tours of duty in Vietnam". It make a social-economic point about draft inequality: "They draft the white trash first 'round here anyway", suggesting that he would have got drafted if he hadn't have volunteered. Then it looked at the veteran back in the US, starting up a new business, possible selling marijuana, as indicated in the line: "seed from Colombia and Mexico". However, for the veteran, the sounds, smells, and visions of Vietnam still lingering on: "chopper in the air, I wake up screaming like I'm back over there" - a familiar reference to PTSD often seen in post-war songs. It had decent commercial success, reaching # 10 in the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks, # 45 in UK Singles, # 12 in Canada Top Singles, and # 23 in Australia charts. Less well-known on this album was the song "Johnny Come Lately", featuring the UK group The Pogues. The title, and chorus, was a play on the famous Civil War song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home". The narrator is a Vietnam vet, mentioning the Purple Heart medal and the mistreatment of vets: "couple Purple Hearts...maybe nobody knows...about a place called Vietnam". The song made an interesting comparison to the Second World War: "my grandaddy...told me about London when the Blitz was on".

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Draft Songs

Steve Earle, Americana, country-rock artist, born 17 January 1955 in Fort Monroe, Virginia, USA. He released the song "Copperhead Road" (Uni Records # UNI-7), a post-Vietnam War song concerned with veterans. It starts with the young man, from a moonshine bootlegging family, joining the army: "I volunteered for the Army on my birthday...done two tours of duty in Vietnam". It make a social-economic point about draft inequality: "They draft the white trash first 'round here anyway", suggesting that he would have got drafted if he hadn't have volunteered. Then it looked at the veteran back in the US, starting up a new business, possible selling marijuana, as indicated in the line: "seed from Colombia and Mexico". However, for the veteran, the sounds, smells, and visions of Vietnam still lingering on: "chopper in the air, I wake up screaming like I'm back over there" - a familiar reference to PTSD often seen in post-war songs. It had decent commercial success, reaching # 10 in the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks, # 45 in UK Singles, # 12 in Canada Top Singles, and # 23 in Australia charts.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Well my name's John Lee Pettimore / Same as my daddy and his daddy before / You hardly ever saw Grandaddy down here / He only came to town about twice a year / He'd buy a hundred pounds of yeast and some copper line / Everybody knew that he made moonshine / Now the revenue man wanted Grandaddy bad / He headed up the holler with everything he had / It's before my time but I've been told / He never came back from Copperhead Road / Now Daddy ran the whiskey in a big block Dodge / Bought it at an auction at the Mason's Lodge / Johnson County Sheriff painted on the side / Just shot a coat of primer then he looked inside / Well him and my uncle tore that engine down / I still remember that rumblin' sound / Then the sheriff came around in the middle of the night / Heard mama cryin', knew something wasn't right / He was headed down to Knoxville with the weekly load / You could smell the whiskey burnin' down Copperhead Road / I volunteered for the Army on my birthday / They draft the white trash first, 'round here anyway / I done two tours of duty in Vietnam / And I came home with a brand new plan / I take the seed from Colombia and Mexico / I just plant it up the holler down Copperhead Road / And now the D.E.A.'s got a chopper in the air / I wake up screaming like I'm back over there / I learned a thing or two from ol' Charlie don't you know / You better stay away from Copperhead Road I'm an American, boys, I've come a long way / I was born and bred in the USA / So listen…

About the artist

American singer-songwriter, born 17 January 1955 at Fort Monroe, Virginia, raised in Texas ('Johnny Come Lately', 'Copperhead Road'). [Source: Wikipedia]

In collections

Draft Songs