A Very Nice Country

Annotation — Draft Songs

What Now People? Volume 1 (Paredon Records # P-2001), released on the label founded by Barbara Dane and Irwin Silber in 1969, whose objective was to "seek out the music and speech, documentary or dialogue, that spring from the conscious artist who relates to people's movements, and which pour from all people in struggle".1 This record label released several albums either about the Vietnam War or that contained a Vietnam War song, which are discussed on this list. See the note below. Also note that in 1969 Dane and Sliber published the book "The Vietnam Song Book" which included the notation and lyrics of one hundred anti-war songs collected from around the world. This album contained four songs that dealt with Vietnam War issues. These are, firstly "It Could Have Been Me" by Holly Near about the Kent State, Ohio demonstration, which also appeared on her LP A Live Album (see the sub-list); secondly, "Ballad of the Unknown Soldier" by Barbara Dane; third, the song "Play Your Guitars, American Friends" by Alfonso Ray Riate, a Vietnam veteran who had been a P.O.W.. Fourth, Oscar Brand's "A Very Nice Country" about Americans living in Canada in exile (because of draft avoidance and opposition to the war). Oscar Brand wrote in the LP booklet about the song: "In the mid-60s I was singing at the Mariposa Festival in Toronto when a small contingent of eager young men asked me for the music and lyrics to my Canadian anthem 'Something to Sing About'. They explained that they were Americans-in-exile, as opposed to the Vietnam War as I was, but suffering because they were still of draft age... I thought I better write a song about them".2 Narrated in the first person, in the first half of the song, the exiled American, from Philadelphia, "living up here in Canada", noted the similarities between the countries: "they're just like the people back home, and the buildings look a lot alike", however, while it's a "very nice country", it's "not my own". The second half dealt with the debate of whether there should be amnesty for "draft dodgers". The narrator laments "the war is over now...but they won't let us back", because the government said "it isn't fair to the kids they forced to fight". In a contemporary observation on Cold War tensions, the narrator said "they're talking the draft again, and resuming nuclear tests", so they're "expecting lots more guests".Sources1What Now People, Vol. 1 - Paredon 2001↩2What Now People, Vol. 1 - Paredon 2001↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

About the artist

Canadian-American folk singer and radio host, born 7 February 1920 in Winnipeg, Canada; died 30 September 2016 in Great Neck, New York. [Source: Wikipedia]

Themes

Anti-War

In collections

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