To Mom - With Glory
Broadcast B-003 · USA
- Artist
- Jimmy Coates
- Title
- To Mom - With Glory
- Release
- To Mom - With Glory / What Would It Take
- Label
- Broadcast # B-003
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- USA
- Songwriter
- Coates
- Genre
- Spoken Word · Spoken Word
- Primary theme
- US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs
Annotation
The song "To Mom - With Glory" (Broadcast Records # B-003) by the obscure country artist Jimmy Coates, discussed both the hell of war, while taking a pro-government, patriotic position. It took the form of a letter written in the first person, from a surgeon soldier, who had "transferred...to Vietnam...about 40 miles below Saigon", addressed to his mother back in the US. The soldier spoke in some detail of the difficulties of combat in the jungle: "we've lost all of our gear, our ammunition all got wet, our food supply is so low", while the Vietcong "cut off all our road passages". He then provided specific details of their current battle, in which the VC killed their commanding officer, and so the narrator had to take over the platoon. He reported that the men were "scarred, they're crying...I'm shaking like a leaf", as they were "pinned behind some bushes" for "the last 14 hours". However, he ended the letter on defiant note, declaring that "we are the greatest nation" and that "we want the whole world know what we are fighting for". Largely spoken-word, American the Beautiful played in the background.Other "Fighting For" - related songs: Dave Dudley - "What We're Fighting For"…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Themes
Patriotic · Soldier's Perspective · Combat · Fighting For · Saigon