Lonely Soldier

Annotation

The song "Lonely Soldier" (Stax Records # STA-0070) by William Bell took the letter format, from a soldier writing to his loved one back home. The soldier asked that she "have a little faith" and wait for him. He explained that his "heart is frozen with fear". The woman who received the letter told the listener that it "touched the bottom of my soul" and must have been written "on a terrible day". This is the third William Bell single on a war / Vietnam related topic - "Soldier's Goodbye" (1966) and "Marching Off to War" (1966), both released on Stax. And, as already mentioned, the 1969 single "Soldier's Prayer" by Eddie Billups featured on Bell's record label Peachtree.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Its been so long since I've seen my man / But a letter came today, it touched the bottom of my soul / It must have been on some quite moment / On a terrible day when he had these words to say / Its been so long since I've been home / And I just thought that I would write / I hope these word will comfort you on some dark and lonely night / Don't you know my love is real / Don't you see how I feel, oh, I'm a lonely soldier boy... / Darling just have a little faith, no, you won't regret it my love / If you would only wait... / Sometimes when I sit here my heart is frozen with fear / And I think about the good times we had

Notes

Stax STA-0070 (SM-00409-PL), yellow label with the finger-snap logo, July 1970; "Lonely Soldier" (Calvin Carter), 3:58, Conrad Publishing Co., BMI; produced by B. T. Jones and William Bell. "Stax Records, 926 East McLemore, Memphis, Tenn. - Div. of Paramount Pictures Corp., a G+W Co." [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

American soul singer and songwriter, born 16 July 1939 in Memphis, Tennessee; Stax artist ('Marching Off to War'); long based in Atlanta, Georgia. [Source: Wikipedia]

Themes

Soldier's Perspective

In collections

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