The Viet Nam Blues

Annotation

The song "The Viet Nam Blues" (Dot Records # 16766), written by Kris Kristofferson, took a patriotic line. On 28 August 1965 Billboard reported that "Capt. Kris Kristofferson, 23, of Texas, a Rhodes scholar, got out of the army recently, met songwriter Marijohn Wilkin, who persuaded him to come to Nashville and try his hand as a songwriter. He agreed, signed with Buckhorn Music....Kristofferson's first to be recorded is "The Viet Nam Blues", a talking single done by Jack Sanders on Dot Records. It is in the patriotic vein, supports the US position in Viet Nam".1 The narrator, a soldier on leave in Washington D.C., came across a "strange looking bunch" of protesters, gathering signatures to send a "telegram of sympathy...to Ho Chi Minh". This caused the veteran to feel "down right sick", as they seemed more concerned with the suffering of the Vietnamese than the American soldiers and their families. In the final section, the soldier came across a sign which said "we won't fight". So the soldier explained that they were fighting so that those back in the US could enjoy their freedoms, and not "wake up dead". This made the soldier look "kinda crazy, just another warmonger". In the final line, the soldier headed to a bar, as the listener discovered that he was "on orders to Vietnam" with only "an hour" before his flight left.In a 1996 documentary titled "Kris Kristofferson - His life and work", Kristofferson performed the song and discussed how his views on the war had changed, commenting: "I'm not embarrassed about that song... but ...my own feelings about Vietnam turned 180 degrees. But I still felt, at the time, that all my friends were over there. And it wasn't their fault that they were over there. But I come to believe that it was a tremendous mistake for our government to be over there and that the things that we were doing were inhuman". He concluded with the remark that "It's up to anybody who does have the information to try to pass it on..."2Covers: Dave Dudley - Vietnam Blues (1966: Mercury Records # 72550) Autry Inman - Vietnam Blues (1968: Epic Records # BN 26428) Sources1Billboard, 28 August 1965↩2YouTube↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: I was out on the leave at the time... / In that crazy place called Washington DC / I saw a crowd of people on the White House lawn / All carrying signs about Vietnam... / It was a strange looking bunch, but then I never could understand civilians / Oh a fellow came to me with a list in his hand, he said we're gathering names to send a telegram of sympathy... / I said I reckon this is going to kids and wives of my friends over there... / He said ah ah buddy this is going to Ho-Chi-Min...People's leader, North Vietnam / Oh I wasn't really sure I was hearing him right / I thought I'd better move before I got in a fight... / Then I thought of another telegram... / Telling my buddy's wife that her husband was dead, it wasn't too long till I was feeling downright sick.../ Another held the sign that said we won't fight, I thought to myself boy ain't that right / To leave a lot of our soldiers die instead / I said it's a shame that every man who ever died up there in that far off land was dying so that you wouldn't have to wake up dead / Course he looked at me like I was kinda crazy, just another warmonger / Oh I left that place and I went downtown and hit first bar that I'd found... / You see I was on orders to Vietnam / Little old place just north to Saigon / Had about an hour to catch myself a plane... / I don't like dying either but man I ain't gonna crawl

Notes

Dot 45-16766 (MB-20144), black "Ultra High Fidelity" label dated 8-65; "The Viet Nam Blues" (Kris Kristofferson), 2:35, Buckhorn Music Pub. Co., BMI; "A Dino Production", produced by Noel Ball. In a Dot company sleeve, "The Nation's Best-Selling Records", Sunset & Vine, Hollywood 28, California. [From the record sleeve and labels]

Themes

Patriotic · Anti-Protest · Demonstration · Ho Chi Minh

In collections

US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs [War Years]