The Gateway Trio

Soldiers Who Want to Be Heroes

1963 · Capitol 5045 · Los Angeles, California

Soldiers Who Want to Be Heroes – The Gateway Trio (A-side label)

Artist
The Gateway Trio
Title
Soldiers Who Want to Be Heroes
Release
Soldiers Who Want to Be Heroes / Poor Man's Travelin' Blues
Year
1963
Label
Capitol # 5045
Format
7" · Single
Language
English
Country
Los Angeles, California, USA
Songwriter
Rod McKuen
Genre
Folk · Contemporary Folk
Primary theme
Peace, Protest & Anti-War

Annotation

Soldiers Who Want to Be Heroes (Gateway Trio, The) Folk-rock, plight, Vietnam-era. Children and students sent to war, trained to kill. References WW2 and Korea. Composed by Rod McKuen, who released it as a single in 1971. Soldiers Who Want to Be Heroes / My Mother's Eyes

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

About the artist

The Gateway Trio was an American folk act established in 1962 in San Francisco - Jerry Walter (ex-Gateway Singers) and guitarist Betty Mann, later joined by bassist Milt Chapman (ex-Axidentals) - recording for Capitol before ceasing operations in 1965. "Soldiers Who Want To Be Heroes" b/w "Poor Man's Travelin' Blues" (1963) is a Rod McKuen composition, reissued on Ace's Rod McKuen songbook compilation in 2017. [Source: Discogs artist profile]

Themes

Soldier's Perspective · Anti-War · Anti-Government · Korea