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 Songs

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".

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

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