Going to Vietnam
1967 · M.O.C. 45-665 · USA
- Artist
- Big Amos
- Title
- Going to Vietnam
- Release
- I'm Gone / Going to Vietnam
- Year
- 1967
- Label
- M.O.C. # 45-665
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- USA
- Genre
- Blues · Blues
- Primary theme
- Home Front Perspective / Soldier's Perspective
Annotation
The blues track "Going to Vietnam" (M.O.C. Records # M.O.C.) by Big Amos Patton, from Sardis, Mississippi, and nephew of the famous 1920s-1930s delta bluesman Charley Patton, it was recorded in Memphis Tennessee, but is very much set to the style of the electric, Chicago blues (like Muddy Waters & Junior Wells). The lyrics told a straight forward narrative of a man being drafted to Vietnam, expressing fears about his lover staying true to him. There is no question of draft dodging, opposition to war, or patriotism, just the simple point that "Uncle Sam called me...And I've got to go".
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Big Amos is Memphis-area blues singer/harmonica player Big Amos Patton, born 1921 in Sardis, Mississippi, a nephew of Charley Patton; after WWII service he settled in West Memphis, Arkansas, and in the 1960s recorded for the Hi Records family - 'Going to Vietnam' (M.O.C. 45-665, 1967) carries his own writer credit. [Source: AllMusic; Discogs]