Something You Couldn't Write About

Annotation

The song "Something You Couldn't Write About" by soul singer Gloria Edwards, released on Huey P. Meaux's Texan label Jet Stream Records (# 814) takes on a very different theme from all the other songs on this list - it tells of a US soldier who had an affair with a Vietnamese woman, producing a child. It is narrated from the soldier's partner in the US, who tells the listener that she "found that picture" of "some slant-eyed woman" and the soldier "holding that darling boy". This was a similar theme to the Ginger & Jean country song "What's Been Going on in Viet Nam".

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Some slant-eyed woman made you a prison of her love / I'm so glad my prayers were answered and you are right here close to me / But something must have happened in that land far across the sea / Was there something, something you just couldn't write about / Was there something, something, you just couldn't live without / I wish I'd never found that picture darling / Of you and the lovely lady holding that darling boy / The two of you standing there your eyes just shinning with joy / Oh, for you the war is over, for me it has just begun

Notes

Jet Stream Records 814, 45 RPM, matrix JS-GE-4; "Something You Couldn't Write About" (Thomas–McRee–Thomas), 2:39, Crazy Cajun Music, BMI; produced by Huey P. Meaux. [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

Gloria Edwards was an American soul and blues singer billed as 'the Soul Queen of Texas', who recorded in Houston for Huey Meaux's Jet Stream and Crazy Cajun operations between 1968 and 1972. "Something You Couldn't Write About" was issued on Jet Stream 814 and later collected on 'Gloria Edwards - The Soul Queen of Texas: The Crazy Cajun Recordings 1968-1972' (1999). [Source: Discogs; AllMusic; RateYourMusic]

Themes

Soldier's Perspective · Vietnamese Girls

In collections

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