Hanoi Jane

Annotation

Leon Rausch - a country singer, born on 2 October 1927 in Springfield, Missouri. Early in his career he performed with the Western Swing group Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys (from 1958 into around 1965-66), as lead singer. (1) In 1973 he released the Vietnam War song "Hanoi Jane" (Derrick # DRC-100) in Dallas, Texas, written by Bill Rogers. The song title referenced Jane Fonda, a famous actress and political activist who visited North Vietnam in 1972, and met with American P.O.W.s. She released a documentary in 1974 with her husband Tom Hayden (referenced in this song), called Introduction to the Enemy, which depicted their travels through North and South Vietnam. Hayden, a political activist, one of the founding members Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), played a major role in the protests outside of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, 1968. He and several others were arrested for inciting riots, and they became known as the "Chicago Seven". While in Vietnam Fonda posed in a photograph with North Vietnamese soldiers and an anti-aircraft cannon. She urged US soldiers to stop bombing North Vietnam and accused them of being war criminals. As mentioned above, she…

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

About the artist

Leon Rausch (Edgar Leon Rauch, born 2 October 1927 in Missouri; died 14 May 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas, aged 91) was an American western swing vocalist and bandleader, best known as the lead singer of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys from 1958, later leading his own New Texas Playboys, rejoining Wills for the 1973 album 'For the Last Time', and continuing with the original Playboys until their final concert in 1986; he was inducted into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame and appeared in the 1998 film 'The Hi-Lo Country'. "Hanoi Jane", written by Bill Rogers and prompted by Jane Fonda's 1972…

Themes

Patriotic · P.O.W. · Jane Fonda · Love It or Leave It

In collections

P.O.W. / M.I.A. Songs