Draft Time Blues

Annotation

The garage rock band the Midnight Sons, who also went under the name The Jackasses, was as short lived band from Vancouver, Washington (US) - 1963-1967. Their bass player, Dan Lowther, served in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot. In the track "Draft Time Blues" (KG Records # KG 100) a young man worried about being drafted to Vietnam. He tried to enroll in school to avoid the draft, but having failed he appealed to his Congressman who ignored him because he was "too young to vote". The lyrics were sung to the famous rock & roll tune Summertime Blues by Eddie Cochran.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Well Uncle Sam told me you got to be soldier / Well told my girl, she cried on my soldier / I'd like to leave the country and never come back / But I'm going to get you with a pack on your back / Sometimes I wonder what I'm going to do / There ain't no cure for the draft time blues / I tried to get into school before last September / But the register said I forget to ? /I wrote to my Congressman but that was a joke / 'I like you son but you are too young to vote'... / No use crying when I'm gone / I'm doing the ? when I'm in Vietnam / I don't like rifles and I don't like mud / But going to be there with the mosquitoes and the mud

Notes

KG Records KG 100, matrix MS 22; "Draft Time Blues" (Midnight Sons), 2:25, Lamplighter, B.M.I.; vocal C. Effinger and T. Anderson; produced by Jeff Gordon. [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

Formed 1963, Vancouver, Washington, USA. Disbanded 1967

Themes

Draft · Draft Dodger · Draft Reluctance · Military

In collections

Draft Songs · Garage Rock Songs · US Military & Veteran Songs