Little Johnny From Down The Street

Annotation

The group, which featured the brothers Doyle Wilburn and Teddy Wilburn from Hardy, Arkansas, both served in the US army during the Korean War.2 They also released two anti-war / peace songs: "Vision at the Peace Table" on this album, and the single "The War Keeps Draggin' On" (Decca Records # 32909). Reaching # 37 in the Billboard country charts (on 14 March 1970), the track "Little Johnny From Down the Street" (Decca Records # DL 75173) focused on the plight of a soldier called Johnny.1 The front cover of the album featured a freckled-faced boy - presumably Little Johnny? Larry G. Whitehead composed the song. It started by recalling the childhood of Johnny, who got up to various misadventures, and eventually fell in love with a girl called Janie. This early section personalised the life of the soldiers sent to fight in Vietnam, focusing on their 'normal' or 'happy' American childhood. But then the protagonist received his draft letter: "orders from his country came", and most likely the army sent him to Vietnam. At the end of the track, the listener discovered that Johnny "died in a foreign land all alone", before having the chance to marry Janie. Thus this track mainly dealt with the impact of the war on both the life of the soldier and on those left behind in the US. To a small extent it leaned towards the anti-war side, by portraying the negative impact of the war. Sources2The Encyclopedia of Country Music (Michael McCall, 2012)↩1Billboard, 14 March 1970↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs

The track "Little Johnny From Down the Street" (Decca Records # DL 75173) focused on the plight of a soldier called Johnny.1 The front cover of the album featured a freckled-faced boy - presumably Little Johnny? Larry G. Whitehead composed the song. It started by recalling the childhood of Johnny, who got up to various misadventures, and eventually fell in love with a girl called Janie. This early section personalised the life of the soldiers sent to fight in Vietnam, focusing on their 'normal' or 'happy' American childhood. But then the protagonist received his draft letter: "orders from his country came", and most likely the army sent him to Vietnam. At the end of the track, the listener discovered that Johnny "died in a foreign land all alone", before having the chance to marry Janie. Thus this track mainly dealt with the impact of the war on both the life of the soldier and on those left behind in the US. To a small extent it leaned towards the anti-war side, by portraying the negative impact of the war. Sources1Billboard, 14 March 1970↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation

The group, which featured the brothers Doyle Wilburn and Teddy Wilburn from Hardy, Arkansas, both served in the US army during the Korean War.1 They also released the 1971 Vietnam War single The War Keeps Draggin' On (Decca Records # 32909). As well as the title track, "Little Johnny From Down the Street" (see the section Impact of War: At Home), this album included the peace song "Vision at the Peace Table" (Decca Records # DL 75173), in which the group imagined the leaders of the world coming together to end war, with the help of god. The inclusion of this song would also support the view that the "Little Johnny" track leaned towards the anti-war side.Sources1The Encyclopedia of Country Music (Michael McCall, 2012)↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: We need him now, we need him now, yes we need Jesus now / Last night this whole world went to sleep with troubles on her mind / More troubles she's known since time began / With the leaders of all nations gathered in one room / The future of the world was in their hands / Now the moment had come for men and nations to decide how an everlasting peace could be born / But hopes of peace soon ended / When one man took the floor and started speaking words of fire and scorn / The smaller nations pleaded that their people might be safe from the awful fate of war that filled the air / Then a handful of leaders who put their faith in god bowed their heads and began to pray... / Why some of you have prayed for peace, others speak of war / The treaties of this world will never stand...we need him now...Jesus Who threw a brick through my front glass / Little Johnny from down the street / Who's been diggin' up the courthouse grass / Little Johnny from down the street / Who's been pullin' little Janie's pigtails... / Little Johnny from down the street... / Who taught the other kids how to cuss... / Now Janie thinks Johnny is her whole world / Little Johnny from down the street / Then orders from his country came / He pulled out on the midnight train / Now Janie's cryin' with a different pain / For little Johnny from down the street /Who is it everybody misses, now the neighborhood's quiet... / Who won't be coming home, died in a foreign land all alone / Little Johnny from down…

About the artist

Formed 1953, Hardy, Arkansas, USA. Disbanded 1982

Themes

Soldier's Perspective · Draft · K.I.A.

In collections

US Domestic Perspective Songs [War Years] · Draft Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years] · US Combat Perspective Songs [War Years]