Happy Birthday, Son
1968 · Sound Town 500 · Texas
- Artist
- Mrs. Dorothy Gorman
- Title
- Happy Birthday, Son
- Release
- Happy Birthday, Son
- Year
- 1968
- Label
- Sound Town # 500
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- Texas, USA
- Genre
- Fanfare · Fanfare · Spoken Word
- Primary theme
- Home Front Perspective / Soldier's Perspective
Annotation
"Happy Birthday, Son" "Because he observed his anniversary in Vietnam, a Texan at war is having his 21st birthday greetings broadcast over radio stations to thousands of listeners. Mrs. Dorothy Gorman of Fort Worth couldn’t find a birthday card that said all she wanted to say to her son Gerald Wayne Gorman, so she wrote a poem to him and sent it to him in her own voice, on tape. A Dallas recording studio heard, and got her to read her poem against a musical background. Texas broadcasters tried the record on the air and soon a national record distributor made an offer to distribute "Happy Birthday Son." In part, the poem says: "When my days seem blue, and I feel down and out, I go to my room and start to pout. Then I say to myself, look up, then things are bright, you helped make it that way, son, when you went away to fight. “To fight for your country, the land of the free—to make it a better place for you and me. I am proud of you, son, yet I shed a tear, but you will be back with us in one short year." Gorman expects to observe his 22nd birthday as a civilian. One birthday present is likely to be a college fund formed by the royalties his mother expects from her new recording…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
From Fort Worth, Texas, USA. Also on (Tower 391 / US / 7")