Sigh for My Lai
MORE 45-8017 · Alburquerque, New Mexico
- Artist
- Lorenzo Martinez
- Title
- Sigh for My Lai
- Release
- A Sigh for My Lai / I Am a chicano
- Label
- MORE # 45-8017
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- Alburquerque, 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 Martinez (1) (2) (3) He released Vietnam War single about the Mexican-American soldier Danny Fernandez: El corrido de Daniel Fernandez / The Ballad of Dan Fernandez.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Unknown - no release could be located for "A Sigh for My Lai" on any admissible source, and the performer credited as Lorenzo Martinez could not be identified. A namesake, the American mariachi vihuela and guitarrón player Lorenzo Martínez, is documented but cannot be connected to this recording. [Source: none - no record located]
Themes
In collections
Mexican-American / Hispanic Songs · My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs