Calley

Annotation

Dog Faced Hermans formed in Edinburgh, UK, in 1986, and played post-punk noise rock, incorporating folk influences and experimental instrumentation. The band consisted of Marion Coutts (vocals, trumpet, bells, tuba), Colin McLean (bass, guitar, steel drum), Wilf Plum (drums, percussion, saxophone, bells, foghorn), and Andy Moor (guitar, viola, tube).1 In 1994 they released the album Those Deep Buds which included the startling song "Calley" (Konkurrel # K155c), that recalled the horror of the My Lai Massacre. The narrator imagined turning up at Calley's place of work, a jewelry store in Columbus, Georgia (which he did in fact work since 1975, called V.V. Vick). She wanted to question him on what happened: "oh Mr Calley...a moment of your time about My Lai". At which point the music intensified and increased in volume, as the narrator then imagined herself running from the scene of the massacre: "choking on the smoke...I was running from the...heavy men behind me...in uniform with implements". She described the killing as "easy work" and that the soldiers had "no need for caution, no opposition, no defending".& Vietnam War: Punk SongsSources1pyduc.com: Dfh band↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs

Dog Faced Hermans formed in Edinburgh, UK, in 1986, and played post-punk noise rock, incorporating folk influences and experimental instrumentation. The band consisted of Marion Coutts (vocals, trumpet, bells, tuba), Colin McLean (bass, guitar, steel drum), Wilf Plum (drums, percussion, saxophone, bells, foghorn), and Andy Moor (guitar, viola, tube).1 In 1994 they released the album Those Deep Buds which included the startling song "Calley" (Konkurrel # K155c), that recalled the horror of the My Lai Massacre. The narrator imagined turning up at Calley's place of work, a jewelry store in Columbus, Georgia (which he did in fact work since 1975, called V.V. Vick). She wanted to question him on what happened: "oh Mr Calley...a moment of your time about My Lai". At which point the music intensified and increased in volume, as the narrator then imagined herself running from the scene of the massacre: "choking on the smoke...I was running from the...heavy men behind me...in uniform with implements". She described the killing as "easy work" and that the soldiers had "no need for caution, no opposition, no defending".Sources1pyduc.com: Dfh band↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Punk Songs

Dog Faced Hermans formed in Edinburgh, UK, in 1986, and played Post-Punk / Art Punk, incorporating folk influences and experimental instrumentation. The band consisted of Marion Coutts (vocals, trumpet, bells, tuba), Colin McLean (bass, guitar, steel drum), Wilf Plum (drums, percussion, saxophone, bells, foghorn), and Andy Moor (guitar, viola, tube).1 In 1994 they released the album Those Deep Buds which included the startling song "Calley" (Konkurrel # K155c), that recalled the horror of the My Lai Massacre. The narrator imagined turning up at Calley's place of work, a jewelry store in Columbus, Georgia (which he did in fact work since 1975, called V.V. Vick). She wanted to question him on what happened: "oh Mr Calley...a moment of your time about My Lai". At which point the music intensified and increased in volume, as the narrator then imagined herself running from the scene of the massacre: "choking on the smoke...I was running from the...heavy men behind me...in uniform with implements". She described the killing as "easy work" and that the soldiers had "no need for caution, no opposition, no defending".Sources1pyduc.com: Dfh band↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: In my dream I went into Columbus, Columbus, Georgia, through the rain / Seemed only like I knew where I was going, to a store, Bill Calley / Something, supplies, the name is hazy, inside the place was lit against the darkness / Dull, silver, sharp and shiny things like jewels or tools, I can't remember / I see my man, he stands behind the counter, his face set all uneven / Fairly fit still, the ex-marine, and now I'm here, I have my question ready... / 'Oh Mr Calley, please, a moment of your time about My Lai' / Suddenly I couldn't see for running and I'm in a space that's screaming / And could say no more for choking on the smoke which came smoking / Which came pouring from the the clearing and I knew why I was running / From the cracking of the branches, from the heavy men behind me / Bulk and sweat in uniform with implements and running clumsy / Knowing that there was no need for caution, no opposition, no defending, easy work / And one I saw his face he'd turned towards me, his face set all uneven / Like a, like a young man who'd had a stroke at twenty-one / His face he turned towards me and he hisses / 'Get out, get out, get out, this my place of business'

Notes

Also issued in the Netherlands on Konkurrel (K155c).

About the artist

Dog Faced Hermans formed in Edinburgh, UK, in 1986

Themes

My Lai · Anti-Calley

In collections

European Songs · My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs · Punk Songs