Soldier Boy

Annotation

The classic song "Soldier Boy" (Scepter Records # 1228) performed by the doo-wop girl group the Shirelles, from New Jersey, USA, topped the Billboard Hot 100 on 5 May 1962 and stayed there for three weeks. Released in March 1962, it stands as one of the earliest, and certainly the most successful of the dozens of "soldier boy" themed songs to appear in the early 1960s. Whether about Vietnam, Berlin, or the general Cold War, these songs presented soldiering and the draft as a common occurrence in the US. Released in 1962, it is interesting to look into how much people in the US really knew what was going on in Vietnam. President Eisenhower had clearly attached American credibility, financial backing, and a limited military commitment to Vietnam (with around 900 advisers in the later 1950s). But under Kennedy this started to rise drastically - US military personnel in South Vietnam rose to 9,000 by 30 June 1962. While the war received more attention in the media, during the 1964 presidential election 2/3rds of Americans said that they paid little or no attention to Vietnam. So there is the question of whether this was intentionally about Vietnam - in any case, many people interpreted this as a Vietnam War song. Written by Luther Dixon and Florence Greenberg (founder of Scepter), it described a tale of young, true love, as a soldier set off to war, with the narrator promising that she would stay faithful to her soldier boy: "take my love with you to any port or foreign shore...I'll be true to you". It featured on the 1962 album Baby It's You (Scepter # SRM-504). The group followed this up in 1965 with the single "(Mama) My Soldier Boy Is Coming Home" (Scepter # SCE 12123).

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Soldier boy, oh, my little soldier boy I'll be true to you / You were my first love and you'll be my last love / I will never make you blue, I'll be true to you / In the whole world you can love but one girl / Let me be that one girl, for I'll be true to you / Wherever you go my heart will follow... / Take my love with you to any port or foreign shore / Darling you must feel for sure I'll be true to you / Soldier boy, oh, my little soldier boy

Notes

Scepter Records 1228 A, red label, "A Ludix Production"; "Soldier Boy" (Luther Dixon - Florence Green), Ludix Publ. (BMI), 2:40; Burt Keys, arranger; Scepter Music Inc., New York, N.Y. Issued in a red-and-white Scepter Records company sleeve: "Scepter Music Inc., 1650 Broadway, N.Y.C., N.Y." [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

American girl group formed 1957 in Passaic, New Jersey ('Soldier Boy', 1962). [Source: Wikipedia]

Themes

Soldier's Perspective

In collections

US Domestic Perspective Songs [War Years] · Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs