Fightin' for the U.S.A.
1965 · RCA Victor 47-8730 · New York City, New York
- Artist
- Jerry Reed
- Title
- Fightin' for the U.S.A.
- Release
- Fightin' for the U.S.A. / Navy Blues
- Year
- 1965
- Label
- RCA Victor # 47-8730
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- New York City, New York, USA
- Songwriter
- Jerry R. Hubbard
- Genre
- Country · Country
- Primary theme
- US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs
Annotation
Country singer Jerry Reed (1937-2008) released the patriotic Vietnam song "Fightin' for the U.S.A." (RCA Victor # 47-8730). The b-side, "Navy Blues", presumably related to the Vietnam conflict in light of the a-side, was an instrumental number, with acoustic guitar finger-picking and an up-tempo drum beat. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, his career mainly centred around Nashville, Tennessee, and this track had a country-rock sound. Billboard said on its release, in December 1965, that it's "a rocker with strong message lyric. Swinging dance beat and the exciting duel-track vocal has a winning sound from start to finish. Could prove a monster!" (1) Well, it did not prove to be a chart monster, but it did have strong lyrics. A man received his draft card and went to fight in Vietnam for "glory and the USA". The narrator described his experiences: "crawling through the swamps...bullets flying right and left". The soldier then sent a message to the anti-war protesters: "take your complaints to Uncle Sam" - because the soldiers were just following orders and doing their duty. At the end of the guitar solo, the listener discovered that the soldier had been captured by the Vietcong - the…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
American country singer-guitarist, born 20 March 1937 in Atlanta, Georgia; died 1 September 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee. [Source: Wikipedia]
Themes
In collections
Draft Songs · P.O.W. / M.I.A. Songs · US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs