A GI's Letter From Home
Tennessee 45-151 · Gallatin, Tennessee
- Artist
- Wade Jackson
- Title
- A GI's Letter From Home
- Release
- Merry Christmas Country Style
- Label
- Tennessee # 45-151
- Format
- 7" · EP
- Language
- English
- Country
- Gallatin, Tennessee, USA
- Genre
- Country · Traditional Country
- Primary theme
- Home Front Perspective / Soldier's Perspective
Annotation — Christmas Songs
The song "A GIs Letter From Home" (Tennessee Records # 45-151) by country singer Wade Jackson, released in Gallatin, Tennessee, looked at the soldier perspective, during Christmas time, as the GIs longed for letter from home. The song does not mention Vietnam, but was released during the era (although the precise date is unknown).
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: Come Christmas they long for a letter from home / It was a week before Christmas / And all down the line our men overseas were working overtime / To get to spend time with their families or maybe to scoot into town on Christmas eve / Now in B Company, was a little fellow named Lee / He was a little old PFC, from old Tennessee / The roster was posted, cause someone you know had the guard duty so that others could go / Lee saw his name, and said boys, if you'll don't get in jail, have that goofy mail clerk to bring up my mail / 'Haha his mail', laughed his sergeant... / Still looking for letters he don't never get / Well they run into goofy in some bistro in town / Now he was drinking, just had troubled getting around / They went through his pockets though and it shocked them to see / There was a hand written letter for Lee / Well the sergeant spoke up and said I'll take it back, it's from old Lee's mother you can tell for a fact / I might not get back to the party I know, but he's not had a letter for over two months or so / Well a blizzard blew up, as towards the outpost he strove... / Far from their firesides these wild young men roam / Come Christmas they long for a letter from home, come Christmas
Notes
Tennessee Records 45-151-EP (ARP-7028), yellow label with a state-outline logo, "From the Tennessee-LP-102 'Merry Christmas Country Style With Wade Jackson'"; this side carries 1. "Daddy Wants a Cuddling Doll for Christmas", 2:52, and 2. "A GI's Letter From Home", 3:10, both Cheeawa, BMI; "Dist. Exclusively by Tennessee Records, 620 Tulip Circle, Gallatin, Tenn." [From the record sleeve and labels]
About the artist
Waymond David "Wade" Jackson (born 28 April 1929 in Tabor City, North Carolina; died 14 January 2020 in Gallatin, Tennessee) was a twenty-year US Air Force veteran and a BMI-awarded songwriter reputed to have written over 40,000 songs, recording country and honky-tonk singles across the 1960s-70s on Jewel, Briar, Starday, K-Ark and Tennessee Records, per Praguefrank's. "A G.I.'s Letter From Home" appears on the Christmas EP Tennessee 45-151-EP (November 1970). Not the modern Australian Wade Jackson. [Source: Praguefrank's; tributearchive.com obituary]