Letter From a Teenage Son

Annotation

Next up as a response to Lundberg came the song "Letter From a Teenage Son" (Philips # 40503), which on 16 December 1967 bubbled under the Billboard 100, at # 120. The magazine reported on the track on 9 December 1967: "Backed by 21 members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra playing Ravel's "Pavaanne", here is a cleverly thought out answer to Victor Lundberg's smash. Holds much interest, programming and sales appeal. The narration is well done and the thoughts conveyed add another dimension to the much recorded father-son debate". (1) However, this went nowhere commercially, performing worse than the track above. The record sleeve featured a very smartly dressed young man, in shirt and jacket, with short hair (not the hippie character portrayed by Lundberg). The back cover displayed the lyrics of the track. The narrator attacked his father over the birth certificate / draft card issue as lacking in love and acceptance. He then explained that he did not want to burn his draft card, but that he had the right to do so under the freedom of expression principle. The narrator went on to criticise the loss of life in Vietnam: "the awful numbness of death in a distant jungle". Also of note…

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

About the artist

Brandon Wade was a 16-year-old vocalist whose spoken-word 'Letter From a Teenage Son' (Philips 40503, 1967), the answer record to Victor Lundberg's 'An Open Letter to My Teenage Son', reached No. 120 on Billboard's Bubbling Under chart, backed by the David Carroll orchestra; his real identity remains undocumented. [Source: Wikipedia; Discogs]

Themes

Anti-War · Draft · Answer to Open Letter

In collections

Lundberg's "An Open Letter" & Answer Songs · Draft Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs