Set Him Free

Annotation

Set Him Free (Jones, Garland) Fanfare pop. My Lai, pro-Calley. Battle confusion - enemy attacked, needed to protect his soldiers. Crime was a mistake. Set him free - he's a scapegoat.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs

- Set Him Free (Jones, Garland) - Fanfare pop. My Lai, pro-Calley. - Battle confusion - enemy attacked, needed to protect his soldiers. - Crime was a mistake. Set him free - he's a scapegoat.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Set him free, set him free, it's the cry across the nation / We'll have a celebration when they open up the gates and set him free / He was just a smart young soldier, and he grew a little older / When he took command of boys still in their teens / He must show them he's the man, and do everything he can / When all around bombs and bullets start to scream / It was early in that morning and without a word of warning / The enemy came shelling all around / He could hear the frightful groaning, he could hear his soldier's moaning / He could see the dead and dying on the ground / It was not retaliation, nor act of devastation / That caused the weak and guilty to reply / It was young Lt. Calley, against whose name they tallied / The death of all civilians at My Lai / In a court before his peers, he awaits with hopes and fears / A verdict of a crime that has arisen / And they sentenced him to jail... / / He was told he must spend his life in prison / Set him free, set him free, hear the cry across the nation / We'll have a celebration when they open up the gates and set him free... / The don't place the blood and guilt on the soldier in the field / Whose fighting in a war undeclared / All the people in the land have made a solid stand / They swore to band together one and all / They will make their voices heard, as they all shout out the word / That the guilty made the soldier take the fall / They say justice will prevail, yet the soldier was assailed / Still he told them…

Notes

Carrier Records C-101 (F-1100), yellow label marked "Promotion Copy" and "Not for Sale"; "Set Him Free" (Robert E. Dix), 3:56, Sildix Music Co. (ASCAP) & Hoover Pub. Co. (ASCAP); produced by Bob Dix, arranged by Delton Kacher—California Recorders. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Themes

My Lai · Pro-Calley · Patriotic · Combat · Calley-Justice · Pro-Soldier

In collections

My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs · US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs [War Years]