The Girl in the Picture (Napalm Girl)

Annotation

Belgium singer/songwriter Yanah, born Nathalie Vangronsvelt on 12 July 1978, released the song "The Girl in the Picture" (Flying Snowman Records # YAN/2003-01) which as can be seen from the front cover photo, was a reference to Nick Ut's Pulitzer Prize winning photo of a naked nine year old, Kim Phuc, running from a napalm attack - chemical weapon Napalm B - a jellied gasoline mixture, with polystyrene, benzene, and gasoline. Declared a war-crime since 1980, the US government extensively used this weapon during the Vietnam conflict, dropping 388,000 tons on Indochina between 1963 and 1973.123 The narrator describes the moment captured in the famous photo, immediately after the attack: "running, naked child... arms swung out wide to relieve the pain". The narrator notes the impact of the photo, "she can burn your mind, she is the girl in the picture".Sources1Napalm: An American Biography (Robert M. Neer, 2013)↩2Times Higher Education: Napalm an american biography by robert m neer↩3Napalm, An American Biography (book website)↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — European Songs

Belgium singer/songwriter Yanah, born Nathalie Vangronsvelt on 12 July 1978, released the song "The Girl in the Picture" (Flying Snowman Records # YAN/2003-01) which as can be seen from the front cover photo, was a reference to Nick Ut's Pulitzer Prize winning photo of a naked nine year old, Kim Phuc, running from a napalm attack - chemical weapon Napalm B - a jellied gasoline mixture, with polystyrene, benzene, and gasoline. Declared a war-crime since 1980, the US government extensively used this weapon during the Vietnam conflict, dropping 388,000 tons on Indochina between 1963 and 1973.123 The narrator describes the moment captured in the famous photo, immediately after the attack: "running, naked child... arms swung out wide to relieve the pain". The narrator notes the impact of the photo, "she can burn your mind, she is the girl in the picture". Sources1Napalm: An American Biography (Robert M. Neer, 2013)↩2Times Higher Education: Napalm an american biography by robert m neer↩3Napalm, An American Biography (book website)↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: She's only a child, a running, naked child so vulnerable / She's only 'bout nine, thin and so fine, so destructible / She runs scarified her arms swung out wide to relieve the pain / She lives in Trang Bang where fire falls from the skies / Down Highway One there's a girl that screams and cries / And she's running, always running, they call her the Napalm Girl / But she never gives in trying to get some peace in this world / Saved by the click of a camera, she is the girl in the picture / There's fire all around her and fire inside, 'it's too hot, too hot' / She rips off her clothes but the heat only grows, it's living under her skin / She's frozen in time 'cause she still burns your mind when you look at her / She lives in Trang Bang where fire grows on the trees / Down Highway One there's a little girl pleading for peace / And she's running, always running, this little napalm girl / But she never gives in, trying to get some peace in this world / She's so strong she can burn your mind, she is the girl in the picture... / Always understanding, this little child of war, she is the girl in the picture

About the artist

Yanah is a Belgian singer whose 2004 debut album "The Girl In The Picture" (Flying Snowman Records) opens with "The Girl In The Picture (Napalm Girl)", about Phan Thi Kim Phuc, the child in Nick Ut's 1972 photograph; per the artist's own materials the song's profits went to Kim Phuc's foundation for child war victims. She contested Belgium's 2004 Eurovision preselection and played Belgian festivals that year. [Source: Discogs; the artist's own pages; antiwarsongs.org]

Themes

Napalm · Anti-War · Napalm Girl

In collections

European Songs