Hugh Thompson, The Aftermath
2007 · Not On Label · USA
- Artist
- The OaKs
- Title
- Hugh Thompson, The Aftermath
- Release
- Our Fathers And The Things They Left Behind
- Year
- 2007
- Label
- Not On Label
- Language
- English
- Country
- USA
- Genre
- Rock · Indie
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation
American rock / alternative folk band The Oaks, formed in Orlando Florida, led by Ryan Costello, released this anti-war, politically infused album in 2005, as the US continued to be involved in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Costello spent two years in the latter battle zone, working with refugees. This provided the inspiration for many of the songs contained on this album. (1) In the track "For Hugh Thompson, Who Stood Alone. My Lai Massacre, Vietnam, 1968", the group looked back to the Vietnam War, by praising Hugh Thompson Jr. - a US army helicopter pilot, who tried to stop the My Lai massacre, reported the incident over the radio, and later to his superiors. He received the Soldier's Medal in 1998. (2) The lyrics told of Thompson stepping out of the helicopter with "the eyes of the village" fixed on him. At which point he attempted to stop the massacre. The narrated posed the question: "did justice plant herself as an anchor in you mind?"At the end of the album, the song "Hugh Thompson, the Aftermath" imagined Thompson in Vietnam after the incident: "as you lay in your bunk that night", contemplating the "sorrow of the world found...in a jungle village". The lyrics also…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Annotation — My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs
American rock / alternative folk band The Oaks, formed in Orlando Florida, led by Ryan Costello, released this anti-war, politically infused album in 2005, as the US continued to be involved in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Costello spent two years in the latter battle zone, working with refugees. This provided the inspiration for many of the songs contained on this album. (1) In the track "For Hugh Thompson, Who Stood Alone. My Lai Massacre, Vietnam, 1968", the group looked back to the Vietnam War, by praising Hugh Thompson Jr. - a US army helicopter pilot, who tried to stop the My Lai massacre, reported the incident over the radio, and later to his superiors. He received the Soldier's Medal in 1998. (2) The lyrics told of Thompson stepping out of the helicopter with "the eyes of the village" fixed on him. At which point he attempted to stop the massacre. The narrated posed the question: "did justice plant herself as an anchor in you mind?" At the end of the album, the song "Hugh Thompson, the Aftermath" imagined Thompson in Vietnam after the incident: "as you lay in your bunk that night", contemplating the "sorrow of the world found...in a jungle village". The lyrics also…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
American indie rock band from Orlando, Florida, founded by singer-songwriter/guitarist Ryan Costello and drummer/percussionist Matthew Antolick, who met as students at the University of South Florida; active 2006-2009. In 2003 Costello sold his possessions and spent two years doing humanitarian agricultural work with returned refugees in Afghanistan, an experience that shaped the band's music. Both Hugh Thompson songs appear on their debut album 'Our Fathers and the Things They Left Behind' (2006; digitally reissued 2017). [Source: Wikipedia / Spotify-AllMusic bio / Bandcamp]