If Your Dad Were a Prisoner of War

Annotation

The country pop song "If Your Dad Were a Prisoner of War" (Mallard Records Inc. # MR-4), by the The Truehart Kids, looked at the plight of the P.O.W.s and the impact it had on the families of the prisoners. It also leaned to the anti-war side of the debate, concluding with the line "pray for peace". The main narrator claimed to be a 9 year old girl, who told the listener that her father, captured in the war, "don't have much food to eat, sleeping on the floor". Meanwhile, her mother spoke a lot about him so that "we won't forget our dad". The young girl's 4 year old brother "wrote the North Vietnamese" asking for their father's release. In fact, the children narrating this record, Renee (11 years old), and Jeff (10 years old), were the two children of country singer Nelson Truehart, who released the Vietnam / William Calley song "Morning in My Lai" in 1971. At the time of this recording, they lived in Nashville, Tennessee. On 17 July 1971 Billboard ran the headline that "Nelson Truehart Gets P.O.W. Backing". The article went on to report that "Nelson Truehart...has recorded a prisoner-of-war song with the backing of military officials and a women's organisation. Truehart used his two children, Rene, 11, and Jeff, 10, for this session, which he produced independently here at Spar...the session is being featured in a network documentary and got widespread press coverage here. In attendance were some members of the National Women's League of Prisoners of War and Missing in Action. According to Truehart these woman, from all over the nation, will distribute the records by hand to disk jockeys, complete with a brochure outlining the prisoner problem. The song was written by Truehart, who reportedly called officials at the Pentagon and got their blessing for the song. 'I did not want to do anything to offend the military,' he said. Instead, they gave it enthusiastic reception".12 Released on Guy Drake's country, Nashville-based label Mallard Records Inc., he also produced the record. The above article said that Truehart wrote the song, but the actual record credited G. Johnson (either for the lyrics, the composition, or both).Sources1Billboard, 17 July 1971↩2Billboard, 4 September 1971↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Children on Record

The country pop song "If Your Dad Were a Prisoner of War" (Mallard Records Inc. # MR-4), by the The Truehart Kids, looked at the plight of the P.O.W.s and the impact it had on the families of the prisoners. It also leaned to the anti-war side of the debate, concluding with the line "pray for peace". The main narrator claimed to be a 9 year old girl, who told the listener that her father, captured in the war, "don't have much food to eat, sleeping on the floor". Meanwhile, her mother spoke a lot about him so that "we won't forget our dad". The young girl's 4 year old brother "wrote the North Vietnamese" asking for their father's release. In fact, the actually children narrating this record, Renee (11 years old), and Jeff (10 years old), were the two children of country singer Nelson Truehart, who released the Vietnam / William Calley song "Morning in My Lai" in 1971. At the time of this recording, they lived in Nashville, Tennessee. On 17 July 1971 Billboard ran the headline that "Nelson Truehart Gets P.O.W. Backing". The article went on to report that "Nelson Truehart...has recorded a prisoner-of-war song with the backing of military officials and a women's organisation. Truehart used his two children, Rene, 11, and Jeff, 10, for this session, which he produced independently here at Spar...the session is being featured in a network documentary and got widespread press coverage here. In attendance were some members of the National Women's League of Prisoners of War and Missing in Action. According to Truehart these woman, from all over the nation, will distribute the records by hand to disk jockeys, complete with a brochure outlining the prisoner problem. The song was written by Truehart, who reportedly called officials at the Pentagon and got their blessing for the song. 'I did not want to do anything to offend the military,' he said. Instead, they gave it enthusiastic reception".12 Released on Guy Drake's country, Nashville-based label Mallard Records Inc., he also produced the record. The above article said that Truehart wrote the song, but the actual record credited G. Johnson (either for the lyrics, the composition, or both).Sources1Billboard, 17 July 1971↩2Billboard, 4 September 1971↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Its been a long time since daddy come home / He's been in a foreign land / Mamma talks about him every night, so we won't forget our dad / Well you don't know what we're going through... / Yes my dad is a prisoner of war / I've been waiting for his release / Let's all get together now, and pray for peace / Won't somebody get our daddy home / Been captured in this war, they don't have much food to eat, sleeping on the floor / Little Brother Bobby wrote the North Vietnamese / I'm sure they're finally see that there's hundreds of little boys and girls like Bobby and me... / Bobby is four, and I am nine / In this house I'm a man... / Pray for peace, pray for peace

Notes

Mallard Records, Inc., P.O. Box 490, 1012-17th Ave. S., Nashville, Tenn., MR-4 (10016), maroon label with a mallard-head logo; "If Your Dad Were a Prisoner of War" (G. Johnson), Big Country Boy Music / Yall Rite Music, ASCAP, 2:25; produced by Guy Drake; marked "Other Side Mono". [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

The Truehart Kids were the children of Nelson Truehart. Their "If Your Dad Were A Prisoner Of War" (Mallard Records MR-4, 1971; produced by Guy Drake; Big Country Boy Music / Yall Rite Music; pressed by Southern Plastics) is credited on Discogs to THE CHILDREN OF NELSON TRUEHART. Their father recorded the spoken-word "Morning In My Lai" (MGM K-14254), also in 1971; the father's My Lai piece and the children's POW single form a linked family pair. [Source: Discogs artist-relationship note]

Themes

P.O.W. · Anti-War · Child

In collections

Children on Record · P.O.W. / M.I.A. Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]