Dear Mr. Hanoi

Annotation

A slow tempo country track, "Dear Mr. Hanoi" (LAM # 2001), by Jerry Silver, took a similar approach to the P.O.W. issue as the song "Letter to Hanoi" by Don Holiman. Taking the format of a letter written to Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam, the narrator took the role of a boy, asking Hanoi to send his father (a prisoner of war) back home. The song sought to show the negative impact on a P.O.W.'s family - the soldier's child would not be able to "play ball with his own dad", while his wife "cried, because she's so alone". The record company placed a full-page advertisement in Billboard on 13 January 1973, just as the US government were negotiating the ceasefire agreement and discussing the P.O.W. issue, and thus a very topical subject.1 Released in Wilson, North Carolina, USA. Distributed by the General Record Corporation (Atlanta, Georgia). Composed by Bob Keiber. Publisher: Blue Surf Music. Performing Rights: BMI.Sources1Billboard, 13 January 1973↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — P.O.W. / M.I.A. Songs

A slow tempo country track, "Dear Mr. Hanoi" (LAM # 2001), by Jerry Silver, took a similar approach to the P.O.W. issue as the song "Letter to Hanoi" by Don Holiman. Taking the format of a letter written to Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam, the narrator took the role of a boy, asking Hanoi to send his father (a prisoner of war) back home. The song sought to show the negative impact on a P.O.W.'s family - the soldier's child would not be able to "play ball with his own dad", while his wife "cried, because she's so alone". The record company placed a full-page advertisement in Billboard on 13 January 1973, just as the US government were negotiating the ceasefire agreement and discussing the P.O.W. issue, and thus a very topical subject.1 Released in Wilson, North Carolina, USA. Distributed by the General Record Corporation (Atlanta, Georgia). Composed by Bob Keiber. Publisher: Blue Surf Music. Performing Rights: BMI. Sources1Billboard, 13 January 1973↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Dear Mr. Hanoi, please let my daddy come home / Bobby wrote a letter, and addressed it to Hanoi / A letter so profound, indeed, for such a little boy / He told them how he missed his dad and wanted him back home / He told about how his mummy cried because she's so alone / Dear Mr. Hanoi, please let my daddy come home / Bobby wants...to play ball with his own dad / Other boys have fathers / He wants back the one he had / So Bobby wrote to Vietnam to get his feelings read / All boys need a daddy, and so do little girls... / And mummy's need a daddy to, a shoulder, true and strong / Let him come home, we are so alone

Notes

Lam, Mega Sound Production Record No. 2001 (L-2001-A), "Promotion Copy"; "Dear Mr. Hanoi" (Bob Keiber), time 3:10, ℗ 1972 Blue Surf Music, BMI; "Dist. by General Record Corp., 123 Simpson St., Atlanta, Ga." [From the record sleeve and labels]

Themes

Soldier's Perspective · P.O.W.

In collections

US Domestic Perspective Songs [War Years] · P.O.W. / M.I.A. Songs