Sweet Cherry Wine
1969 · Roulette R-7039 · New York City, New York
- Artist
- Tommy James & the Shondells
- Title
- Sweet Cherry Wine
- Release
- Sweet Cherry Wine / Breakaway
- Year
- 1969
- Label
- Roulette # R-7039
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- New York City, New York, USA
- Songwriter
- Tommy James, Richie Grasso
- Genre
- Psychedelia · Psychedelic Pop
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation
Pop rock / psychedelic pop band, formed in 1960 in Niles, Michigan, and disbanded in 1970. The song "Sweet Cherry Wine" (Roulette Records # 7039) combined Tommy James's Christian beliefs with anti-war sentiment, with the well-known protest phrase "we ain't a marching anymore". The narrator stated "we ain't gonna fight", because "only god has the right to decide".
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: Come on everyone we gotta get together now / Oh yeah, love's the only thing that matters anyhow / And the beauty of life can only survive / If we love one another / Oh yeah yesterday my friends were marching out to war / Oh yeah listen now we ain't a marching anymore / No we ain't gonna fight / Only God has the right / To decide who's to live and die / He gave us sweet cherry wine / So very fine / Drink it right down, pass it all around / So stimulating, so intoxicating...
Notes
Roulette R-7039 (19540-A), 45 RPM, red and yellow sunburst label; "Sweet Cherry Wine" (Tommy James-Richie Grasso), Big Seven Mus. Corp., BMI, 4:25; produced by Tommy James, arranged by Tommy James & the Shondells-Gary Illingworth, engineer Bruce Staple; made in U.S.A. by Roulette Records, Inc. [From the record sleeve and labels]
About the artist
Tommy James: Born 29 April 1947, Dayton, Ohio, USA. The Shondells: Formed 1960, Niles, Michigan, USA