The Dean Rusk Song

Annotation

The track "The Dean Rusk Song" particularly stands out on the album, with several aspects of the war contained within its versus. At the end of the song Frederick strongly mocks the US government's role in Vietnam: "we will teach the reds a lesson...stop attacking our marines...and don't invade the little land where you were born". He also mocks their portrayal of the anti-war movement, saying that they're "stirring up the races and yelling nasty things at LBJ. Yes the enemy is near". This tone is reflected in the repeated chorus. The next section focused on the history of US support for South Vietnam under Eisenhower, and the problems of political leadership. It referenced Cardinal Francis Spellman (Archbishop of New York, 1939-1967), who supported LBJ in the 1964 presidential election and controversially backed his Vietnam policy, which drew criticism from within the Church. He had met the South Vietnamese leader Diem in 1950 and supported his leadership.2 The next verse looked at US military tactics, noting the problems with ground troops, the introduction of US air power, and North Vietnamese tunnels (such as along the Ho Chi Minh trail). It also mentioned that the US government wanted negotiations to secure South Vietnam as an independent, non-communist country. Note the reference to Hubert Humphrey, US Vice-President (1965-1969).Sources2The Human Tradition in the Vietnam Era (David L. Anderson, 2000)↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Leave us alone! Leave us alone! / Just find yourself a country of your own / Kick my boots and kiss my hand / And I might not bomb your land / Go to sleep and stop you mischief little man... / Once there was a saviour and he lived in old Saigon / And the people really loved our man Diem / Cardinal Spellman gave him power / Helped along by Eisenhower... / Then the Generals took over and took over / There were coups and counter coups most every week / But we honoured our commitment / We never missed a shipment / If we had they would have sold us up the creek / But the Vietcong surprised / They almost terrorised us / Did you know their average age is seventeen?... / We are loosing badly on the ground / So we go to the air and we drop a couple thousand bombs a day / But the peasants slowly funnel into the commie tunnels / Oh how I wish the reds would go away / Now we want negotiations to secure this little nation / And keep the communists out of here / In Saigon we want a friend / Let me see who shall we send / Hubert Humphrey isn't doing muchb this year

Notes

Crisis Records, 1610 Wandering Drive, Monterey Park, Calif.; front cover titled "Hey, Hey... LBJ! and other Songs of the U.S. Antiwar Movement sung by Bill Frederick" over a photograph of a large antiwar march with banners reading "Bring the Troops Home" and "Jobs, Homes, Schools – War No More". The back cover, headed "Comes Along Bill Frederick Declaring Peace on War" ("This is a Sing-In! This is a Wry Eye on the Number One Guy"), carries two photographs of Frederick with guitar and sleeve notes signed Joyce Ann Miller with a short paragraph on each song: "Ship Ahoy" grew from a heckler's question at an anti-war demonstration; "Empty" is an interview with an individual Vietnamese citizen; "The Dean Rusk Song" quotes the New York Times of 26 January 1966; "Hitler Ain't Dead" arose from the Dominican crisis; "Just Another Day" from student demonstrations against germ-warfare research at…

About the artist

Folk singer prominent on the New York folk scene in the 1960s; performed at antiwar demonstrations and released the LP Hey, Hey... LBJ! And Other Songs of the U.S. Antiwar Movement (1967). [Source: Journal of Texas Music History (VWSP article); History Today; Discogs] The sleeve notes to his LP describe him as a twenty-four-year-old Philadelphian with a physics degree, working toward a Ph.D. in molecular biology and performing at teach-ins, rallies and coffee houses on the Eastern Seaboard.

Themes

Anti-War · Eisenhower · Diem

In collections

Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]