Return From Viet Nam

Annotation — P.O.W. / M.I.A. Songs

The song "Return From Viet Nam" (CMC # 1014) by Billy Bailey, a country track released in 1973 in West Memphis, Arkansas, told the story of a Vietnam veteran. The lyrics are slightly ambiguous. It started with the veteran falling out with his loved one. But why? The narrator sung "I'm sure you got lonely like myself" but "I never dreamed that anything could come between us" - did she become involved with someone else? But then the veteran expressed disappointment with the "fighting in the streets at home" - presumably a reference to protesters. So, did the couple in fact fall out over the protest movement? Also note that the song started with a reference to P.O.W.'s: "I'd have rather died a prisoner in Vietnam" - was the narrator a P.O.W., released from Vietnam? He ended with the line that it would have been better for his sweetheart to have "go on thinking that I was dead" (presumably because he was M.I.A. / P.O.W.).

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

About the artist

Unknown - a country 45 'Return From Viet Nam' b/w 'Someone to Love' is indexed on RateYourMusic, but no label, year, or biography is documented. [Source: RateYourMusic]

Themes

Soldier's Perspective · Patriotic · P.O.W. · M.I.A. · Demonstration · Anti-Protest

In collections

P.O.W. / M.I.A. Songs