Hole in the Ground

Annotation

Tom Parrott, born in Washington D.C., USA, in 1944, a prominent member of the contemporary folk scene in the 1960s, wrote many political songs addressing the Vietnam War, such as the song The Freedoms We've Been Fighting For (1967) and the song Pinkville Helicopter (1970). He appeared frequently in the New York mimeographed publication Broadside, with eleven songs published.1 The song "Hole in the Ground" (Folkways Records # FTS 3102), also featured on the compilation The Best of Broadside 1962-1988, responded to a newspaper article, from December 1964, that reported on a 10 year old South Vietnamese boy who tipped off US advisers (and South Vietnamese troops) as to the whereabouts of his Vietcong father. The headline read "Boy, 10, Lead Viets to Father's Hideout" (Associated Press Wire Report, 18 December 1964). Sources1Index of Songs by Author 1-144, part 1↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs

Tom Parrott, born in Washington D.C., USA, in 1944, a prominent member of the contemporary folk scene in the 1960s, wrote many political songs addressing the Vietnam War, such as the song "The Freedoms We've Been Fighting For" (1967), the song "Hole in the Ground" (1968), and two songs about the My Lai massacre: "The Massacres of My Lai (Song My) and Truong An" (1969) and "Pinkville Helicopter" (1971). He frequently appeared in Broadside, with eleven songs published.1 This was a mimeographed publication founded in 1962 by Sis Cunningham and Gordon Friesen, that promoted contemporary folk and protest songs. It also had a music label: Broadside Records. It usually published both lyrics and notations of songs, as well as articles and interviews about folk music, and newspaper clippings of current events. While many of the songs would have been played at the folk clubs and festivals, not all of them were recorded.The song "Hole in the Ground" (Folkways Records # FTS 3102), also featured on the compilation The Best of Broadside 1962-1988, responded to a newspaper article, from December 1964, that reported on a 10 year old South Vietnamese boy who tipped off US advisers (and South Vietnamese troops) as to the whereabouts of his Vietcong father. The headline read "Boy, 10, Lead Viets to Father's Hideout" (Associated Press Wire Report, 18 December 1964). Sources1Index of Songs by Author 1-144, part 1↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: My age is ten years, I wear raggedy pants / And I beg from the soldiers, when I get the chance / My mother is living in a house in the town / But my daddy lives in a hole in the ground / The soldiers are nice men, yes they are my friends / And they feed me candy without any end / They say they are new here, could I show them around? / Could I show them where my daddy lives in the hole in the ground? / I show all the soldiers what they want to see.... / The next day I go to visit my daddy / I walk and I look all across the rice paddies / But I can't find my daddy, there's no one around / And I can't find the hole where he lived in the ground / But I've still got my soldiers to visit today / But they don't want to see me, they all turn away / Some faces are sad and some wear a frown / As I speak of my daddy in the hole in the ground

About the artist

Born 1944, Washington, DC, USA.

Themes

Anti-War

In collections

Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]