Safe Behind the Wire
1988 · CBS 651353 7 · Australia
- Artist
- John Schumann
- Title
- Safe Behind the Wire
- Release
- Safe Behind the Wire / He's Got the Money
- Year
- 1988
- Label
- CBS # 651353 7
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- Australia
- Genre
- Rock · Pop Rock
- Primary theme
- Post-War
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…
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…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
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