Go Down

Annotation — Draft Songs

Although released in 2004, the group recorded this album in 1966. It documented the garage punk band the Insurrections, which featured Henry Flynt (who had guitar lessons with Lou Reed), Walter De Maria and Paul Breslin. (1) The first track on the album, "Uncle Sam Do", referenced the Vietnam War and the use of napalm, suggesting a contradiction in US government foreign policy: "nobody talk peace like Uncle Sam do; Uncle Sam talk the peace and drop napalm on you". Napalm refered to the 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. (2) (3) (4) The Dow Chemical Company, the largest suppler of napalm to the US military, became a target of Vietnam protests (such as boycotts), particularly on university campuses. (5) In the song "I Don't Wanna", a bluesy track, the group focused on the possibility of being drafted to fight in Vietnam. As suggested in the title, the narrator did not want to leave his home, facing death, and being responsible for the death of Vietnamese. He…

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Garage Rock Songs

The album also included the song "Go Down" about the protest movement in the US. Flynt called on people to head down to Washington to oppose President Johnson's Vietnam war policy. He wanted people to tell LBJ that they would refuse the draft call, because they did not want to "burn a peasant" with a "napalm bomb". Also note the reference to prostitution in Saigon: "girls in the bars of Saigon".

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Although released in 2004, the group recorded this album in 1966

About the artist

Born 1940 in Greensboro, North Carolina

Themes

Anti-War · Napalm · LBJ · Draft

In collections

Draft Songs · Garage Rock Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs