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

Lyrics

English: I'd have rather died a prisoner in Vietnam / Then to come back home to this / Yes I'm sure that you got lonely like myself... / I never dreamed that anything could come between us / We had loved each other for so long / I'd rather be fighting for what I believe in / Than fighting in the streets at home / I'm sorry that I ever bothered you / Perhaps it would have been better... / To go on thinking that I was dead

Notes

CMC-1014 (CM-1026), dated "June, 1973" on the label, stereo; "Return From Viet Nam" (Billy Bailey), 2:11, Jamdan Pub., BMI; credited to Billy Bailey and the Country Drifters; producer: CMC Enterprises. White label with blue print. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Themes

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

In collections

P.O.W. / M.I.A. Songs · US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs [War Years]