There Won't Be Many Coming Home

Annotation

The track "There Won't Be Many Coming Home" (MGM Records # K13760), originally written for the American Civil War, evolved into a song about war in general. However, its release coincided with the Vietnam War, and thus many people interpreted it as a Vietnam song. Orbinson said that: "It's a reflection on all war, people take it as applying to the Vietnam fighting if they wanted to, but in fact I wrote the song for my first film. It really refers to the Civil War period, but it could also apply equally to the Third World War".1 The lyrics largely look at the impact of war, and perhaps lean slightly to the anti-war side in presenting the negative after-effects of war and suggesting it may not have be justified: "now the glory is all gone".Sources1Only the Lonely: The Roy Orbison Story (Alan Clayson, 1998)↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Now the old folks will remember on that dark and dismal day how their hearts were choked with pride as their children marched away / Now the glory is all gone, they are left alone / And there won't be many coming home

Notes

MGM K13760 (CS9-5 Record Number 5) (N50,212), yellow "Special Disc Jockey Record — Not for Sale" label, 45 R.P.M.; "There Won't Be Many Coming Home" (Orbison-Dees), 2:42, Acuff-Rose Publ., BMI; Roy Orbison, scored and conducted by Fred Karger, arranged by Bill McElhiney, produced by Rose and Vienneau; MGM Records, a division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., made in U.S.A. In an MGM company sleeve, "The Greatest Name in Entertainment!", manufactured by MGM Records Division, 1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York. [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

American singer, born 23 April 1936 in Vernon, Texas; died 6 December 1988 in Hendersonville, Tennessee. [Source: Wikipedia]

Themes

Anti-War

In collections

Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]