Mother's Salute to Lt. Calley
Colony "13" CSP 45-2580 · Nashville, Tennessee
- Artist
- Jamie Reeves
- Title
- Mother's Salute to Lt. Calley
- Release
- A Mother's Salute to Lt. Calley / I'll Wait
- Label
- Colony "13" # CSP 45-2580
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- Nashville, Tennessee, USA
- Genre
- Easy Listening · Easy Listening
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation
Similar to the single above, the song "A Mother's Salute to Lt. Calley" (Colony "13" Records # CSP 45-2580) blamed the government and society for sending Calley to war. Released by Jamie Reeves, in Nashville, Tennessee, she narrated the track from the perspective of an American mother who wanted to voice her opinion. She noted that Uncle Sam took young teenage men and "put a gun in their hands" and sent "them to Vietnam". She argued that the army trained the soldiers to "shoot to kill, fire at will" and "blindly obey orders". Thus, she declared Calley a "real soldier...brave and true", who did his duty in the correct way. She sent a message to Calley: "we, the mothers of this great land, we salute you". The track also expressed patriotic and pro-government sentiments, describing the Vietnam conflict as "fighting for the freedom of our land". Yet, it also strongly criticised the government for its treatment of Calley: "they blackened your name and they stripped you of your pride". At the end of the track, Reeves stated her belief that the real judge would be god, whom she petitioned to "set him free".
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Themes
My Lai · Soldier's Perspective · Pro-Soldier · Anti-War · Anti-Government · Pro-Calley · Calley-Order · Calley-Justice · Religion
In collections
My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs · US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs