Soldiers Good-Bye
1966 · Stax 45-199 · USA
- Artist
- William Bell
- Title
- Soldiers Good-Bye
- Release
- Never Like This Before / Soldiers Good-Bye
- Year
- 1966
- Label
- Stax # 45-199
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- USA
- Genre
- Soul, Gospel & Funk · Soul
- Primary theme
- Home Front Perspective / Soldier's Perspective
Annotation
Similar to the track above, the narrator of the song "Soldier's Goodbye" (Stax Records # 45-199) has just been drafted to fight in Vietnam - "I've been called to war...I've got to go fight...in a foreign land". He reassures his girlfriend that he will return and cries out "please, please wait for me". Recorded by William Bell, the southern soul singer from Memphis, Tennessee, it was written by Bell and Steve Cropper (guitarist with the Booker T. & The M.G.'s), on the famous soul label Stax Records. On 5 November 1966 the single reached # 29 in the Billboard R&B charts. Bell also released the Vietnam related songs Marching Off to War (1966: Stax Records # S-191) and Lonely Soldier (1970: Stax Records # STA-0070).
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
American soul singer and songwriter, born 16 July 1939 in Memphis, Tennessee; Stax artist ('Marching Off to War'); long based in Atlanta, Georgia. [Source: Wikipedia]