Saigon

Annotation

The follow-up album (RCA Victor # LSP-3547) to the hugely successful single The Ballad of the Green Berets / Letter From Vietnam, contained twelve Vietnam War songs. The songs made a stronger attempt to present the real lives, experiences, and feelings of GIs out in Vietnam, although it also continued to defend government policy, and focus on the bravery / glory of the soldiers.1 An especially interesting track was "Saigon" which told the story of GIs visiting the Saigon bars, getting drunk and meeting prostitutes. Sadler referenced the famous "Tu Do Street", where they were located - Tu Do translated as "Liberty", called that between 1955 and 1975. It was formerly known as Catinat street (pre-1955), and was re-named Dông Khoï (General Insurrection) after the fall of Saigon.1 Other songs that referenced this were Saigon Strut by The Soul Patrol and Saigon Warrior by Hershel Gober.Sources1The Album (James E. Perone, 2012)↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: A young soldier far from home will sit down for a drink / And a black haired girl with almond eyes will help him not to think / She'll play five hundred rummy for a drink or for love / And you'll swear that she's an angel that's come from up above / Yes, she's so lovely sitting there you know she is the one / Eating a bowl of Chinese soup at a cafe in Cho-Lun / She'll smile at you with ruby lips that look so very sweet / Then take you for a little stroll down good ol' Tudo street After the battle, after the fight / Many owe their lives to the ladies and men in white / And all of the men in this war torn land / Salute the nurses of Vietnam / They know the awful toll of war each day... / A soldier his hands too burned to write / A nurse takes down his words through the lonely night... / Many a wounded soldier, pain is eased for a while / By opening his eyes to see a nurses smile Now in the war torn jungles of Vietnam you’ll find a certain kind of man / You’ll see him everywhere, he's a trooper, a garet trooper / Yeah, he's five foot four, 220 pounds of blubber / Got him a nickel plated 45 tied down low / Quick draw holster, two bandoliers of brass-sold ammo / Yeah he’s a trooper, a garet trooper / He's fought from Saigon to Ninh Thuan / And every bar that is and then with only the girls... / Said he just this minute come back from fifteen days / Runnin’ fire against the Cong, said he captured a lot of loot

Notes

The US RCA Victor singles credit SSgt Barry Sadler, U. S. Army Special Forces, "Arranged and conducted by Sid Bass", producer Andy Wiswell, publisher Music, Music, Music, Inc., ASCAP. RCA Victor 47-8739 (45 RPM) couples "The Ballad of the Green Berets" (SSgt Barry Sadler–Robin Moore), 2:27, matrix SPKM-6175, with "Letter From Vietnam" (SSgt Barry Sadler), 2:30, SPKM-6172, each "from the RCA Victor album LPM-3547 'Ballads of the Green Berets'"; its picture sleeve shows Sadler in his green beret with the Special Forces flash, and its back, like that of the single "The 'A' Team" / "An Empty Glass" (47-8804; Whitcup–Fairbanks–Sadler, 2:05, TPKM-2852; sleeve headed "SSGT Barry Sadler of The Green Berets"), reproduces the album cover under "Ask for This New L.P. LPM/LSP-3547" (an RCA Victor Dynagroove recording) with its twelve tracks: The Ballad of the Green Berets / Letter from Vietnam /…

About the artist

Born Carlsbad, New Mexico, USA (1 November 1940). Died Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA (5 November 1989)

Themes

Patriotic · Military · Prostitution · Tu Do Street

In collections

US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs [War Years] · US Military & Veteran Songs