Front Line

Annotation

Stevie Wonder's track "Front Line" (Motown Records # TMG 1289) contained typical themes found in post-war songs that focus on veterans. Wonder and Gary Byrd composed the song, and it featured on the 1982 compilation Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium I (Tamla Records # 6002TL2) as a previously unreleased song. It is a first person narration from a Vietnam veteran who "volunteered for Vietnam" in 1964 at the age of 16, because "I had to be a man". Seriously wounded in Vietnam ("got my leg shot off") he returned to the US: "back in the world". He told the listener that he went from being on the front line to being relegated to "the back of the line". The song criticised the impact of the war on families "that have been ruined". It also contained religious references, with the veteran recalling that the "church taught" people not to kill, yet "in a jungle...life has no price". Note the references to the Purple Heart (a US military decoration for those killed or wounded in war) and agent orange (the herbicide used by the US government, which had long-term negative health affects).

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: I am a veteran of the war / I up and joined the army back in 1964 / At sixteen I just had to be a man at any cost / I volunteered for Vietnam where I got my leg shot off / I recall a quote from a movie that said 'who's more a man than a man with a reason that's worth dyin' for' / They had me standing on the front line... / But now I stand at the back of the line... / Brought up in church taught no man should take another life / But then put in a jungle where life has no price... / Back in the world the paper reads today / Another war is in the brewing / But what about the lives of yesterday / And the many happy families that have been ruined / My niece is a hooker and my nephew's a junkie too... / I walk the neighborhood parading my purple heart / With a fear of agent orange that no one will stop

Notes

UK Motown TMG 1289 picture sleeve (sleeve © 1983 RCA Ltd.); A-side "Front Line (Vocal)", B-side "Front Line (Instrumental)" 6:01; stereo; ℗ 1982 Motown Record Corporation; Jobete Music (UK) Ltd./Black Bull Music; produced and arranged by Stevie Wonder; from the album Original Musiquarium 1 (TMSP 6012); back sleeve prints the lyrics. [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

American singer-songwriter, born 13 May 1950 in Saginaw, Michigan ('Front Line'). [Source: Wikipedia]

Themes

Agent Orange · Purple Heart · Medals · Vet

In collections

Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs