A Sigh for My Lai
MORE [Albuquerque] 45-8017 · Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Artist
- Lorenzo Martinez
- Title
- A Sigh for My Lai
- Release
- A Sigh for My Lai / I Am a chicano
- Label
- MORE [Albuquerque] # 45-8017
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
- Songwriter
- Roberto Martinez
- Genre
- Folk · Contemporary Folk
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation
The Mexican-American / Chicano song "A Sigh for My Lai" (MORE Records # 45-8017) by Lorenzo Martinez focused its attention on the My Lai Massacre and Lt. William Calley - the mass murder of between 300-500 civilians in the South Vietnamese villages of My Lai and Song My by US forces on 16 March 1968. Probably released early 1970s, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This song criticised the massacre, one of the few records in the war period to do so (most were released in the post-war years), with the line: "the world wrapped in gloom...pray for the victims of My Lai". But at the end of the song, the narrator suggested that "we're all victims of My Lai", and that putting Calley on trial may not be necessary, expressing religious sentiment, that God will judge the perpetrators: "no need to...penalize, there is a god up in the sky". This song was composed by the singer's father Roberto Martinez123 He released Vietnam War single about the Mexican-American soldier Danny Fernandez: El corrido de Daniel Fernandez / The Ballad of Dan Fernandez.Sources1arts.gov: Roberto and lorenzo martinez (archived copy)↩2Curatorial Conversations (Olivia Cadaval, 2016)↩3Smithsonian Folkways: Minority owned record enterprises more↩
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: There are dark clouds in the sky / There are tears in our eye / Songs are trying to justify the massacre at My Lai / Cherry blossoms are in bloom / While the world is wrapped in gloom / Say a pray, and give a sigh / For the victims of My Lai / Some of them are already dead / Some of us are still alive / Yet one way or another we're all victims of My Lai / No need to rationalise or to try to penalise / There is a god up in the sky who will judge us by and by
Notes
M·O·R·E ("minority owned record enterprises"), 1205 Lester, N.E., Albuquerque, N.M. 87112; 45-8017; "A Sigh for My Lai" (Roberto Martinez), time 1:59; recorded at Alta Vista Studio. [From the record sleeve and labels]
Themes
In collections
Mexican-American / Hispanic Songs · My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]