A Place Called Viet Nam

Annotation

The track "A Place Called Viet Nam" (West Wind # SS-6123) by Larry La Pole & the Polecats - a country/rock outfit, who recorded this single on a Minneapolis, Minnesota record label. Larry La Pole wrote many songs for the surf rock band The Trashmen, such as King of Surf. This song told the story of a boy on the eve of his departure to Vietnam, at a bandstand. He asked a member of the band (the narrator of the story) to play a country tune before he left for war. The departing soldier supported the war because of the "fight for freedom". He them recalled that his father died in World War Two and his brother in Korea. He noted, with a degree of scorn, the draft card burners and protesters on TV, and said that "I could never do things that way...I sure know right from wrong". Finally, the narrator accepted the domino theory, that if the US failed in their mission in Vietnam, then "we might be fighting right here at home".

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: You know the honky-tonk below the Georgia line / A boy stopped by one night to spend some time / He stepped off to the bandstand, and he said so quietly: / 'Mister, would you kindly play a country song for me' / Oh please play a country song for a mighty sacred country boy / They handled me a rifle, and said 'son this is no toy' / You got a mighty big job to do, just do the best you can / Tomorrow you'll be leaving for a place called Vietnam / Well, we played his song and we took our break... / And he said, I'd like to thank you because I know you understand / You know my dad fought in Germany back in 1945 / And my brother, he went to Korea, and neither one of them came home alive / Well I know that they are burning draft cards, I saw it on TV the other day / But I could never do things that way, I guess I'm not much of a protester... / Buddy, I've never been to college, but I sure know right from wrong / I love these green green valleys of my home / And I hate to leave my mum here all alone / But If I don't fight for freedom in that land so far away / Buddy, we might be fighting right here at home some day

Notes

West Wind Records, P.O. Box 5555, Lake St. Station, Mpls., Minn. 55408, SS-6123-01A, 45 RPM, light-blue label; "A Place Called Viet Nam" (La Pole), 3:35, Portage - BMI; credited to Larry La Pole and the Polecats. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Themes

Patriotic · Draft Card Burning · Demonstration · WW2 · Korea · Draft

In collections

Draft Songs · US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs [War Years]