Soldier's Prayer 1967
1967 · Ovide 226 · USA
- Artist
- Archie Bell & The Drells
- Title
- Soldier's Prayer 1967
- Release
- A Soldier's Prayer 1967 / On in One
- Year
- 1967
- Label
- Ovide # 226
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- USA
- Genre
- Soul, Gospel & Funk · R&B
- Primary theme
- Home Front Perspective / Soldier's Perspective
Annotation
The song "A Soldier's Prayer 1967" (Ovide Records # 226) looked at a soldier being drafted to Vietnam but not wanting to go - released on the 1968 album Tighten Up. It was recorded by the Houston, Texas soul / R&B group Archie Bell & The Drells, formed in 1966. In the late 60s and early 70s they recorded with Atlantic, before becoming a major band for the label Philadelphia International Records. But first they started on the small label Ovide Records from their hometown Houston, founded by Skipper Lee Frazier. The leader of this group, Archie Bell, was actually drafted to fight in Vietnam on 12 May 1967. When he received his draft card, his band mate Billy Butler tried to cheer him up with an impromptu version of a demo they recorded in 1964 called "Tighten Up". The next day they recorded the song in a studio. While recovering from a leg wound sustained in Vietnam, in a Veteran's Administration hospital in Germany, the song Tighten Up was released and hit # 1 in the Billboard charts (13 April 1968). 1 2 The song started with the soldier receiving the draft card "to go to Vietnam". The soldier cries out "please Uncle Sam I really don't want to go" because he is going to miss his…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
American soul group formed in the mid-1960s in Houston, Texas; Archie Bell was drafted and wounded in Vietnam. [Source: Wikipedia]