Daddy's Name Upon the Wall
1988 · Nifty Pick NP10 · Reno, Nevada
- Artist
- George Pickard
- Title
- Daddy's Name Upon the Wall
- Release
- Daddy's Name Upon the Wall
- Year
- 1988
- Label
- Nifty Pick # NP10
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- Reno, Nevada, USA
- Songwriter
- Matt Pickard, George Pickard
- Genre
- Rock · Pop Rock
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation
Pop rock 80s post-war song "Daddy's Name Upon the Wall" (Nifty Pick Records # NP10) by George Pickard, released in Reno, Nevada, USA. A Boy recalled playing with his father the day before he left for "a place called 'Nam...fighting for my country, land of liberty". He carved his name on the wall outside the house. But then a man came to the door in 1968 and informed his mother that the father was KIA in Vietnam. Twenty years later, the boy, with his son, was at the "cold black slate" at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. , to pay tribute to his father: "touching Grandpa's name". The picture sleeve showed the father and son carving the name on the wall of the house, and on the other side, the son and grandson looking at the soldier's name on the memorial wall. Composed by Matt Pickard and George Pickard. Recorded at Club Studios, Reno, Nevada.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: We were in the backyard, playing pass the ball / Daddy took his knife, carved his name upon the wall / He didn't want to tell me the words he had to say / Tomorrow he'd be leaving to a war so far away / We spent the day together / He, and me and mum / They whispered to each other about a place called 'Nam / And when the morning sunlight streamed across my bed, his note was on my pillow, and this is what it said / Son remember my name upon the wall / I'll be home again come a year from now / Take care of mama, and keep her safe for me / I'm fighting for my country, land of liberty / I remember the day a man came to the door / My mama stood there frozen, his eyes looked at the floor / He said 'mam, I'm sorry, but your husband has died' / He turned and walked away / And that's when mama cried / That was 20 years ago, back in '68 / Now I'm standing with my son, beside a cold black slate / He's touching grandpa's name, a man he never knew / And I think back to another wall, his name is on it to / Son remember my name upon the wall / I'll be home again come a year from now / Take care of mama, and keep her safe for me / I'm fighting for my country, land of liberty...
Notes
Nifty "Pick" Records NP10, Side A, stereo, USA, 316 California Ave., #441, Reno, NV 89509; "Daddy's Name Upon the Wall", ©1988 Matt Pickard/George Pickard, Yowza/Doris Lindsay Publishing, ASCAP, time 2:50. Credits: producer George Pickard; strings/vocal arrangement Mark Donovan and Eileen Stamnas; drums Kevin Strawn; guitar Johnny Davis; engineer Wilis Allen; recorded at Club Studios, Reno, Nevada. The black-and-white picture sleeve, "Written by George Pickard and Matt Pickard", is a pen drawing, signed and dated '89, of a man and child at a dark memorial wall with flowers at its base, a man and boy with a ball beside a brick house, and a photograph of a smiling helmeted soldier inscribed "I love you — Dad". [From the record sleeve and labels]