Long Black Wall
1983 · Fast Folk SE 204 · New York City, New York
- Artist
- Michael Jerling
- Title
- Long Black Wall
- Release
- CooP Fast Folk Musical Magazine (Vol. 2, No. 4) - Political Song
- Year
- 1983
- Label
- Fast Folk # SE 204
- Format
- LP · Compilation
- Language
- English
- Country
- New York City, New York, USA
- Songwriter
- Michael Jerling
- Genre
- Folk · Contemporary Folk
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation
A contemporary folk song, "Long Black Wall" (Fast Folk # SE 204), one of the first songs written and released about the memorial. It looked back at the idealistic early days of the war, wanting to fight communism and become a soldier: "a Green Beret came" and "told about the Communists". The narrator "thought I'd like to be like him". Then he recalled the growth of the protest movement, referencing demonstrations outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August 1968 (where 8 people were arrested for inciting riots, known as the Chicago Eight, later becoming the Chicago Seven): "Chicago summer, 1968...kids out on a lark...on the evening news and got teargassed in Lincoln Park". It then looked at the college days, where everyone: "was against the war...had long hair and Nixon stunk" - a reference to President Richard Nixon of course, and hippie culture. The song then turned to the impact of the war on the returning veterans: "vets came back... drank black coffee and smoked...never spoke of what they'd seen". Finally "a man on TV" said that ten years had passed and "a monument was raised". The narrator noted that the "roll of dead took four whole days". Composed in…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Annotation — 1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs
A contemporary folk song, "Long Black Wall" (Fast Folk # SE 204), one of the first songs written and released about the memorial. It looked back at the idealistic early days of the war, wanting to fight communism and become a soldier: "a Green Beret came" and "told about the Communists". The narrator "thought I'd like to be like him". Then he recalled the growth of the protest movement, referencing demonstrations outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August 1968 (where 8 people were arrested for inciting riots, known as the Chicago Eight, later becoming the Chicago Seven): "Chicago summer, 1968...kids out on a lark...on the evening news and got teargassed in Lincoln Park". It then looked at the college days, where everyone: "was against the war...had long hair and Nixon stunk" - a reference to President Richard Nixon of course, and hippie culture. The song then turned to the impact of the war on the returning veterans: "vets came back... drank black coffee and smoked...never spoke of what they'd seen". Finally "a man on TV" said that ten years had passed and "a monument was raised". The narrator noted that the "roll of dead took four whole days". Composed in…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Born 17 April 1952, Joliet, Illinois, USA. Currently Saratoga Springs, New York, USA
Themes
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall · Chicago Seven · Demonstration · Green Beret · Lincoln Park · Draft · Counter-Culture & Hippies · Mistreatment of Vet · GI Bill · Communism
In collections
1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs · Draft Songs · Veterans Memorial Wall Songs