Credited on the record as 1st Lt. Hershel Gober.
I Need You So
1966 · ABC-Paramount 45-10810 · USA
- Artist
- Hershel Gober
- Credited on the record as
- 1st Lt. Hershel Gober
- Title
- I Need You So
- Release
- I Need You So / Proud American
- Year
- 1966
- Label
- ABC-Paramount # 45-10810
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- USA
- Songwriter
- Hershel Gober
- Genre
- Pop · Pop
- Primary theme
- Home Front Perspective / Soldier's Perspective
Annotation
In the song "I Need You So", Gober narrated from the perspective of a soldier who missed his sweetheart. It described, in the first person, looking at the sunset in Vietnam, looking out at the sea, wishing that he could fly home to see his sweetheart. He expressed loneliness, and some of the views typically found in 1060s soldier boy songs.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: When I see the sun slowly sinking away / How lonesome, how blue am I? / I need you so... / And when I see the ripples on a stormy sea / Each ripple tells a story that's only known to me / There lost, there lonesome, and there wondering always / And when I hear the ripple...I wish that I had wings / So that I could fly, I'd fly to you my love, and we'd never part... / When I return we'll be together and we won't ever have to part
Notes
ABC-Paramount 45-10810, white label marked "Promotion Copy – Not for Sale"; "I Need You So" (1st Lt. Hershel Gober), Pamco Music, BMI, 2:59, side AMP 45-13234, and "Proud American" (1st Lt. Hershel Gober), Pamco Music, BMI, 2:35, side AMP 45-13233; both credited to 1st Lt. Hershel Gober, arranged and conducted by Peter DeAngelis, produced by Bob Thiele. The picture sleeve (ABC Records 10810) shows "Lieutenant Hershel Gober" in fatigues sitting on the grass playing an electric guitar, with a rifle beside him. The reverse is printed as an ABC-Paramount "Press Release – For Immediate Release": Gober, "a singing, songwriting G I in Viet Nam" serving as advisor to Vietnamese militia forces in the Delta, came to the attention of ABC-TV newsmen; the songs were written by him and taped in Saigon. It adds that he is a native of Monticello, Arkansas, joined the U.S. Marines in 1956 and the U.S.…
About the artist
Born 21 December 1936, Monticello, Arkansas, USA. Recorded rockabilly in the late 1950s-early 1960s as Hershel Almond; as an Army officer in Vietnam wrote and recorded war songs including the LP Proud American, performing for President Johnson in Vietnam in 1966 as the 'Singing Soldier'. Later Deputy Secretary and twice acting Secretary of the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Died 15 October 2024. [Source: Wikipedia; Miller Center; Encyclopedia of Arkansas]
Themes
In collections
US Combat Perspective Songs [War Years] · US Military & Veteran Songs