Safe Behind the Wire

Annotation

Australian post-war song "Safe Behind the Wire" (CBS # 651353 7) looked at the impact of the war on the veteran. It featured on the 1987 album Etched in Blue (CBS # 460271 1), by John Schumann, born in Adelaide, South Australia (18 May 1953). It also featured on the 2008 album Behind the Lines which focused on war, containing First and Second World War songs, as well as some other well-known Vietnam tracks, including Schumann's famous composition I Was Only 19, which he performed as a member of the group Redgum (1983). The album also featured a cover of "Khe Sanh" by Cold Chisel. The narration started by describing the end of the war, the soldiers at the airport in Saigon waiting to go home. It referenced the government's justification for the war: "fighting for freedom in South-East Asia....speeches about a domino falling from China into Vietnam", thus referencing the "domino theory" - that the collapse of South Vietnam into the control of the communist north would trigger the collapse of democracy in other countries - the idea of which came from President Eisenhower, during a press conferences on 7 April 1954.1 The narrator then criticised the government for not looking after the veterans. It also referenced Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): "living on your nerves".. Sources1The American Presidency Project: The President’s News Conference, 7 April 1954↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Australian & New Zealand Songs

Australian post-war song "Safe Behind the Wire" (CBS # 651353 7) looked at the impact of the war on the veteran. It featured on the 1987 album Etched in Blue (CBS # 460271 1), by John Schumann, born in Adelaide, South Australia (18 May 1953). It also featured on the 2008 album Behind the Lines which focused on war, containing First and Second World War songs, as well as some other well-known Vietnam tracks, including Schumann's famous composition I Was Only 19, which he performed as a member of the group Redgum (1983). The album also featured a cover of "Khe Sanh" by Cold Chisel. The narration started by describing the end of the war, the soldiers at the airport in Saigon waiting to go home. It referenced the government's justification for the war: "fighting for freedom in South-East Asia....speeches about a domino falling from China into Vietnam", thus referencing the "domino theory" - that the collapse of South Vietnam into the control of the communist north would trigger the collapse of democracy in other countries - the idea of which came from President Eisenhower, during a press conferences on 7 April 1954.1 The narrator then criticised the government for not looking after the veterans. It also referenced Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): "living on your nerves". Sources1The American Presidency Project: The President’s News Conference, 7 April 1954↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: When the bodies were bagged and the telegrams sent / And the very last chopper had gone / And you looked out the window of the 707 on the airfield in Saigon / Some of us thought that the war was over / Some of us couldn’t care less / But you came home and threw a stay-behind party to try to clear up the mess / I don’t know where you are tonight.. I’m down here in a firefight… / But where-ever you are, I hope you’re safe behind the wire / We were fighting for freedom in South-East Asia…. That’s how the story ran / Windy speeches about a domino falling from China into Vietnam… / But look back in sickness and anger / Australia didn’t honour her debt / And non-commission Officer Thompson learned that the war wasn’t over yet / Living on your nerves, living on the phone and sleeping in airports far from home… / Dusted off now and safe behind the wire / Well he have and he gave and he kept on giving, till he just couldn’t give anymore / And he gave it away one morning in Sydney in a rust-red Commodore... / And I remember Phill best talking on the phone / With a cheeky grin on his face… / Because Royal Commissioners and Knights of the Realm / Thought that Phill didn’t know his place / Primis Player Placeholder / And the’re still bagging bodies, Phill, though fourteen years have gone / And the mums and the dads and the wives and the kids still have to soldier on

Notes

From the LP Etched in Blue (CBS 460271); produced by Peter Cobbin, mixed by Peter Cobbin and Jim Taig, recorded at Music Farm Studios; matrix MX250217. The sleeve is dedicated to Phillip Thomson O.A., national president of the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia, who died on 23 November 1986. Promotional copy. CBS 651353 7, Side A, 45 R.P.M.; "Safe Behind the Wire" b/w "He's Got the Money", both (J. Schumann), published by Gilbey; mixed at Studios 301; "Australian Performance/Australian Composition"; ℗ 1987 CBS Productions Pty. Limited, made in Australia by CBS Records Australia Limited. The front sleeve shows a sepia photograph of a young soldier in a netted helmet behind strands of barbed wire, with the dedication ending "Phill was dusted off for the last time in the early hours of Sunday 23/11/86. A good mate and a great Australian... goodbye and God bless Phill..."; the back…

About the artist

Australian singer-songwriter, born 1953 in Adelaide, Australia; wrote Redgum's 'I Was Only 19'. [Source: Wikipedia]

Themes

ANZUS · Domino Theory · Saigon · China (Cold War) · PTSD · Sydney

In collections

Australian & New Zealand Songs · PTSD Songs