March To The Witch's Castle
1973 · Westbound WB 2022 · USA
- Artist
- Funkadelic
- Title
- March To The Witch's Castle
- Release
- Cosmic Slop
- Year
- 1973
- Label
- Westbound # WB 2022
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- USA
- Genre
- Soul, Gospel & Funk · Funk
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation
The song "March to the Witch's Castle" (Westbound Records # WB 2022) is another important representation of P.O.W.s and veterans in the post-war period, looking at their adjustment to the US non-wartime society. The narrator started by noting the date 12 February 1973 as the "happiest day" in thirteen years - the beginning of Operation Homecoming, returning American prisoners of war (P.O.W.s) to the US, held by North Vietnam, and thus answering the "prayers of thousands". However, the narrator soon turned his attention to "the nightmare of readjustment". It recalled the veteran's war time struggles, with the lines "death waited in the shadows...his enemies were many", as well as problems back home, such as the news that "his loved one remarried" while a P.O.W. It also included an early reference to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): "what has happened to his mind". At the end of the song the narrator criticised the 'peace with honor' claim of President Richard Nixon and his National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, asking how it could be when "thousands of boys gave their life".& Vietnam War: Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Annotation — P.O.W. / M.I.A. Songs
The song "March to the Witch's Castle" (Westbound Records # WB 2022) is another important representation of P.O.W.s and veterans in the post-war period, looking at their adjustment to the US non-wartime society. The narrator started by noting the date 12 February 1973 as the "happiest day" in thirteen years - the beginning of Operation Homecoming, returning American prisoners of war (P.O.W.s) to the US, held by North Vietnam, and thus answering the "prayers of thousands". However, the narrator soon turned his attention to "the nightmare of readjustment". It recalled the veteran's war time struggles, with the lines "death waited in the shadows...his enemies were many", as well as problems back home, such as the news that "his loved one remarried" while a P.O.W. It also included an early reference to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): "what has happened to his mind". At the end of the song the narrator criticised the 'peace with honor' claim of President Richard Nixon and his National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, asking how it could be when "thousands of boys gave their life".
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
American funk-rock band formed in 1968 in Plainfield, New Jersey, by George Clinton as the band counterpart to his Parliament vocal group. [Source: Wikipedia]