Credited on the record as Odilio Gonzalez con Yomo Toro, Nieves Quintero, M. Velazquez, Pedro J. Andino y Gilberto Colon.
Cruces Boricuas en Vietnam
Dial [New York] 1016 · New York City, New York
- Artist
- Odilio Gonzalez
- Credited on the record as
- Odilio Gonzalez con Yomo Toro, Nieves Quintero, M. Velazquez, Pedro J. Andino y Gilberto Colon
- Title
- Cruces Boricuas en Vietnam
- Release
- Cruces Boricuas en Vietnam / Todos de Parranda
- Label
- Dial [New York] # 1016
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- Spanish
- Country
- New York City, New York, Puerto Rico
- Songwriter
- German Rosario
- Genre
- Hispanic Music · Jibaro
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation — Draft Songs
The "Cruces Boricuas en Vietnam" ("Puerto Rican Crosses in Vietnam") (Dial Record # 1016) leaned towards the anti-war perspective, focusing on the Puerto Ricans who died in the Vietnam War. It released on New York label Dial Record, which released Puerto Rican music. This recored was released by Odilio González, born 5 March 1937 in Lares, Puerto Rico, in the in the Jibaro genre: "traditionally played by the eponymous mountain-dwelling Latin American culture that live primarily in Puerto Rico". Jíbaro is used in Puerto Rico to refer to the countryside people.1 The song was composed by Germán Rosario, who also composed and performed the song "Caidos en Vietnam", below. The narrator recalled how by "mandatory draft" (the draft) the soldiers were sent to Vietnam, who "fought desperately". The song ended on a sad note: "for every ten Puerto Ricans, there is a cross in Vietnam". Featured on the album Alegre Navidad (LaFlor # LP-109), below.Sources1Wikipedia: Jíbaro↩
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Annotation — Puerto Rican Songs
The "Cruces Boricuas en Vietnam" ("Puerto Rican Crosses in Vietnam") (Dial Record # 1016) leaned towards the anti-war perspective, focusing on the Puerto Ricans who died in the Vietnam War. It released on New York label Dial Record, which released Puerto Rican music. This recored was released by Odilio González, born 5 March 1937 in Lares, Puerto Rico, in the in the Jibaro genre: "traditionally played by the eponymous mountain-dwelling Latin American culture that live primarily in Puerto Rico". Jíbaro is used in Puerto Rico to refer to the countryside people.1 The song was composed by Germán Rosario, who also composed and performed the song "Caidos en Vietnam", below. The narrator recalled how by "mandatory draft" the soldiers were sent to Vietnam, who "fought desperately". The song ended on a sad note: "for every ten Puerto Ricans, there is a cross in Vietnam". Featured on the album Alegre Navidad (LaFlor # LP-109), below.Sources1Wikipedia: Jíbaro↩
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
Spanish: Vietnam is a territory, in distant horizons / Where my brothers have gone by mandatory draft, our brave soldiers, there they arrived one day / Boys who still were not well trained, they fought desperately under a captain and the chaplain knows well / In front of the wicked reds, that for every ten Puerto Ricans, there is a cross in Vietnam Spanish: "Es Vietnam un territorio, en horizontes lejanos / Donde han ido mis hermanos por mandato obligatorio / Nuestros valientes soldados, allí arribaron un día, muchachos que todavía, no estaban bien entrenados / Pelearon desesperados, al mando de un capitán, y bien sabe el capellán, frente a los rojos inicuos, que por cada diez Boricuas hay una cruz en Vietnam"
Notes
Seis milonga, as printed on the label. Dial Record 1016-A, "A Product of Dial Record Corp., N.Y.", orange and cream sunburst label; "Cruces Boricuas en Vietnam" (German Rosario), seis milonga; "Canta: Odilio Gonzalez con Yomo Toro, Nieves Quintero, M. Velazquez, Pedro J. Andino y Gilberto Colon". [From the record sleeve and labels]
About the artist
Born 5 March 5, 1937, Lares, Puerto Rico
Themes
In collections
Draft Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years] · Puerto Rican Songs · US Combat Perspective Songs [War Years]