Prayer From a P.O.W.

Annotation — US Domestic Perspective Songs

A double-side Vietnam War single, in the country music genre, which looked at the prisoner of war / missing in action situation. The a-side addressed the perspective of a P.O.W.'s wife / girlfriend, while the b-side provided the perspective of the P.O.W., both narrated in the first person. Maureen Smith composed the songs. Produced by Scotty's studio, unknown location and date. Publisher: Golden Boy Music. In the first track "More Than Being Lonesome" (P.O.W. # 101) Marilyn Gould sung about the difficulty of not knowing when "your man is M.I.A." She wondered if he had been taken captive or if he had died. As the title suggested, while she felt loneliness and pain, the not knowing added another element which "tears you apart".The b-side song "Prayer From a P.O.W." provided the P.O.W.'s view - it is credited to Marilyn Gould as above, but it is actually an unknown male vocalist. This track, like many others, chose to present the terrible conditions that the prisoners may have been experiencing. This is done through the form a prisoner's prayer to god. The prisoner described his situation, in which he had lost track of time. Being held captive for eight years had started to take a physical toll on him: "my wound still hurts...my vision is blurred...teeth are rotting". He had given up asking for decent food or medication, while in his mind he had moved on from anger and indignation, yet he still could not find peace. He wanted his "family's voices to fill my silent nights". He asked for god to look over his family for him.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — P.O.W. / M.I.A. Songs

The b-side song "Prayer From a P.O.W." provided the P.O.W.'s view - it is credited to Marilyn Gould as above, but it is actually an unknown male vocalist. This track, like many others, chose to present the terrible conditions that the prisoners may have been experiencing. This is done through the form a prisoner's prayer to god. The prisoner described his situation, in which he had lost track of time. Being held captive for eight years had started to take a physical toll on him: "my wound still hurts...my vision is blurred...teeth are rotting". He had given up asking for decent food or medication, while in his mind he had moved on from anger and indignation, yet he still could not find peace. He wanted his "family's voices to fill my silent nights". He asked for god to look over his family for him.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Well god, another day in my endless tunnel of time has passed / And I'm alive, my wound still hurts.../ My vision is blurred, my coordination is going, and my teeth are rotting in my mouth / But I'm alive...even if they did take a chunk of my mind, my heart, and my soul, I've outlived anger and indignation / But I can't seem to live in peace with my gut crawling fears / After eight years I know better than to ask for food instead of slop, medication to sooth the pain... / Freedom to replace the degrading solitary or my family's voices to fill my silent nights / So I won't take up any more of your time tonight god / Except to ask you to hold my loved ones in your hand / To say, hey thanks for today...and tomorrow

Notes

P.O.W. Records, yellow label; A-side P.O.W.-101A (ARP-1723) "More Than Being Lonesome" (Larry Thomas-Judy Thomas-Maureen Smith), Country Stream Music—BMI, 3:03; B-side P.O.W.-101B (ARP-1724) "Prayer From a P.O.W." (Maureen Smith), Golden Boy Music—BMI, 1:50; both produced by Scotty's Studio. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Themes

P.O.W. · Soldier's Perspective

In collections

US Domestic Perspective Songs [War Years] · P.O.W. / M.I.A. Songs · US Combat Perspective Songs [War Years]