Hymn No. 5

Annotation

The song "Hymn No. 5", a chilling narrative by a Vietnam soldier, crying out "there is no tomorrow" and missing home life. Written and performed by the Atlanta, Georgian soul man James T. Shaw, known as the Mighty Hannibal - he actually mentioned his home town on this track. He married the Atlanta soul singer Delia Gartrell who released the 1971 Vietnam War song "See What You Done, Done (Hymn No. 9)" about Vietnam and drug addiction, co-written by the two of them. This single by the Mighty Hannibal, originally released on the small Atlanta label Shurfine Records (# 021), was subsequently picked up by New York's Josie Records (Hymn No. 5 # 45-964). The founder of Shurfine, Wendell Parker, recalled that "it sold over 3,000 copies in Columbus, Ga., alone....White radio wouldn't play it. Black people didn't care; they had a harder row to hoe. When you're concerned with survival, you're not interested in social things. It was the G.I.s who ate it up".1 It started with the letter format, from a soldier in Vietnam to back home.Sources1clatl.com: Soul legend the mighty hannibals day of reckoning↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs

The song "Hymn No. 5", a chilling narrative by a Vietnam soldier, crying out "there is no tomorrow" and missing home life. Written and performed by the Atlanta, Georgian soul man James T. Shaw, known as the Mighty Hannibal - he actually mentioned his home town on this track. He married the Atlanta soul singer Delia Gartrell who released the 1971 Vietnam War song "See What You Done, Done (Hymn No. 9)" about Vietnam and drug addiction, co-written by the two of them. This single by the Mighty Hannibal, originally released on the small Atlanta label Shurfine Records (# 021), was subsequently picked up by New York's Josie Records (Hymn No. 5 # 45-964). The founder of Shurfine, Wendell Parker, recalled that "it sold over 3,000 copies in Columbus, Ga., alone....White radio wouldn't play it. Black people didn't care; they had a harder row to hoe. When you're concerned with survival, you're not interested in social things. It was the G.I.s who ate it up".1 It started with the letter format, from a soldier in Vietnam to back home. Sources1clatl.com: Soul legend the mighty hannibals day of reckoning↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: I wrote my baby from Vietnam and...I said: / I want to see you, you know I want to see you / Sleeping in these foxholes hungry and cold... / I dreamed that I saw you... / I want somebody to tell my mother, I go yonder in Georgia / And tell me father that I'm way over here / In these trench hole covered in blood... / There is no tomorrow

Notes

Shurfine Record No. 021 A, blue label, "Dist. Nationally by Sims Records, Inc."; "Hymn No. 5" (James T. Shaw), 3:10, Bold Lad-Cape Ann-, BMI; The Mighty Hannibal; Wendell Parker; #454. [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

American soul singer James Shaw, born 9 August 1939 in Atlanta, Georgia ('Hymn No. 5'); died 30 January 2014 in New York City. [Source: Wikipedia]

Themes

Soldier's Perspective

In collections

Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs · US Combat Perspective Songs [War Years]