The Coward
1969 · Varsity 1090 · Nashville, Tennessee
- Artist
- Paul Martin
- Title
- The Coward
- Release
- The Coward / Twenty Years Ago
- Year
- 1969
- Label
- Varsity # 1090
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- Nashville, Tennessee, USA
- Songwriter
- Paul Martin
- Genre
- Country · Country
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation
Coward, The (Martin, Paul) Varsity # 1090 Country. Draft reluctance - similar to draft dodger rag. Draft card burning. Demonstrations. Reference to Vietnam in final line. Nashville, Tennessee. Produced by Pete Drake.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: Hey Uncle Sam, what have you done to me / I just got this letter to report to you by three / And my friends and my neighbours have volunteered me to represent this country way overseas / Sam don't have no friends, neighbours I don't know / How can you do this to me Sam / I don't want to go, I just started school in my freshman year.... / I get sick real easy, can't even carry my sign / Please stop all this drafting... / Sam you don't want me, I'm a coward at heart / I'd even surrender before the war would start / Sam please don't take me, I would cry so hard / I want to burn my draft card, if I wasn't afraid to fight / Man they're up to early, it would break my back / Damn near make me mad / Think I'll send your letter back... / Twenty years, no furloughs, no weekend passes / Sam, how about making my first stop Vietnam
Notes
Varsity Recording Co. 1090 (VAR-713-2), 1705 Church St., Nashville, Tennessee; "The Coward" (Paul Martin), Window Music, BMI, 1:58; produced by Pete Drake. The picture sleeve, printed in red and black, carries a head-and-shoulders photograph of Paul Martin, both titles ("The Coward" and "Twenty Years Ago"), red musical notes down each side, "Produced by Pete Drake" and the Varsity Recording Co. Nashville address. [From the record sleeve and labels]