I Believe I'm Gonna Make It

Annotation

Joe Tex, born Joseph Arrington Jr. (1933-1982), southern soul singer from Texas, recorded the track "I Believe I'm Gonna Make It" (Dial # 4033). A soldier received a letter from the home front, which gave him inspiration to fight and win: "I got your letter baby...I raised up and got two more enemies". In the spoken-word extract, the narrator expressed disappointment that he did not marry his girl "before I left for Vietnam", but then at the same time he did not want to leave her a widow. Note: furlough - a temporary leave of absence from military duty. The song referenced Jackie Robinson, the African-American baseball player. Written by Tex, and produced by Buddy Killen, founder of Dial. It featured on the album I've Got to Do a Little Bit Better (Atlantic # SD 8133). Billboard mentioned the song on 9 July 1966: "Lonely soldier theme and soulful Tex reading combine for a chart-topping disk", predicting it to reach the Top 60.1 Well, it made it to # 67, and stayed in the charts for 5 weeks, as listed in Billboard on 20 August.2 It reached # 9 in the R&B chart.3Sources1Billboard, 9 July 1966↩2Billboard, 9 July 1966↩3Billboard, 9 July 1966↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs

Joe Tex, born Joseph Arrington Jr. (1935-1982), southern soul singer from Texas, recorded the track "I Believe I'm Gonna Make It" (Dial # 4033). A soldier received a letter from the home front, which gave him inspiration to fight and win: "I got your letter baby...I raised up and got two more enemies". In the spoken-word extract, the narrator expressed disappointment that he did not marry his girl "before I left for Vietnam", but then at the same time he did not want to leave her a widow. Note: furlough - a temporary leave of absence from military duty. The song referenced Jackie Robinson, the African-American baseball player. Written by Tex, and produced by Buddy Killen, founder of Dial. It featured on the album I've Got to Do a Little Bit Better (Atlantic # SD 8133). Billboard mentioned the song on 9 July 1966: "Lonely soldier theme and soulful Tex reading combine for a chart-topping disk", predicting it to reach the Top 60.1 Well, it made it to # 67, and stayed in the charts for 5 weeks, as listed in Billboard on 20 August.2 It reached # 9 in the R&B chart.3Sources1Billboard, 9 July 1966↩2Billboard, 9 July 1966↩3Billboard, 9 July 1966↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: When I got your letter baby, I was in a foxhole on my knees / And your letter brought me so much drip, I raised up and got me two more enemies / I believe that I'm gonna make it / Tell everybody back home I'll be home before you can say Jackie Robinson / Oh yes I will, oh yes I will, sometimes I wonder do you really love me / Then I think of something sweet you once said to me and thought makes me feel so good inside / That I raised up and got me two more enemies / Baby, I wished a thousand times that we had got married before I left home for Vietnam / But then when I see so many of my buddies getting shot down all around me / Makes me kinda of glad that we waited cause I don't want to leave you at home being a widow / They've promised me a furlough on the 15th of next month / And I want you to say a prayer tonight that my furlough will come through so I can come home

Notes

Dial 45-4033 (DL-10431), white "Plug Side" label; "I Believe I'm Gonna Make It" (Tex), 2:58, vocal, Pub. Tree, BMI; produced by Buddy Killen; "Distributed by Atlantic Record Sales, 1841 Broadway, New York, N.Y." [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

American soul singer, born 8 August 1935 in Rogers, Texas ('I Believe I'm Gonna Make It'); died 13 August 1982 in Navasota, Texas. [Source: Wikipedia]

Themes

Soldier's Perspective

In collections

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