Talking Vietnam Pot Luck Blues
1968 · Elektra EKS 74019 · New York City, New York
- Artist
- Tom Paxton
- Title
- Talking Vietnam Pot Luck Blues
- Release
- Morning Again
- Year
- 1968
- Label
- Elektra # EKS 74019
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- New York City, New York, USA
- Genre
- Folk · Contemporary Folk
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation
Tom Paxton wrote the satirical song "Talking Vietnam Potluck Blues" (Elektra Records # EKS 74019), both anti-Vietnam, as well as critical of US marijuana policy through the use of comedy. A new soldier "landed in Vietnam" and went out on patrol in the jungle "swattin' flies". Eventually the platoon stopped for the evening when "the captain, this blonde fella from Yale" offered him some marijuana that grew on the ground they were sitting on. The new soldier declared Vietnam to be "pastures of plenty"! Note the reference to the Yale captain may be an observation that the upper hierarchy of the army tended to come from good universities. The soldier then bumped into a member of the Viet Cong while "stumbling around in a beautiful haze". The Viet Cong fighter pointed out that they could smell the Americans "blowin grass" and that it smelled like "trash". So he offered the Americans some special marijuana "from Uncle Ho's victory garden" (Ho Chi Minh), called "Hanoi gold". The American soldiers and the Viet Cong then sat around peacefully smoking marijuana. The captain from Yale reported back to base that the enemy had been "smashed". By using comedy (and obviously marijuana), Paxton questioned the point of the fighting, and also brought the Viet Cong 'enemy' to life.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: When I landed in Vietnam I hardly got to see Saigon / They shaped us up and called the roll and off we went / On a long patrol, swattin' flies, swappin' lies, firing the odd shot here and there / The captain called a halt that night, and we had chow by the pale moonlight / Well naturally somebody told a joke, and a couple of fellas began to smoke / I took a whiff as a cloud rolled by, and my nose went up like an infield fly / The captain, this blonde fella from Yale said "what's the matter with you, baby?" / Well, I may be crazy, but I think not, I'd swear to God that I smell pot / But who'd have pot in Vietnam? / He said, 'What do you think you're sittin' on?' / These funny little plants, thousands of them, good God Almighty...Pastures of Plenty! The moment came as it comes to all when I had to answer nature's call / I was stumbling around in a beautiful haze when I met a little cat in black P.J.'s / Rifle, ammo-belt, B.F. Goodrich sandals, he looked up at me and said...'we're campin' down the pass and smelled you people blowin' grass / And since by the smell you're smokin' trash, I brought you a taste of a special stash straight from Uncle Ho's victory garden / We call it Hanoi gold / So his squad and my squad settled down and passed some lovely stuff around / All too soon it was time to go, the captain got on the radio / 'Hello, headquarters, we have met the enemy and they have been smashed!
About the artist
Born 31 October 1937, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Folk singer-songwriter central to the 1960s Greenwich Village scene; his Vietnam-era songs include Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation (1965) and Jimmy Newman. [Source: Wikipedia]