Vietnam
1976 · Dusty Road LP 701 · Washington D.C., Washington D.C.
- Artist
- Charlie Sayles
- Title
- Vietnam
- Release
- The Raw Harmonica Blues of Charlie Sayles
- Year
- 1976
- Label
- Dusty Road # LP 701
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- Washington D.C., Washington D.C., USA
- Songwriter
- Charlie Sayles
- Genre
- Blues · Chicago Blues
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation
Charlie Sayles, from Massachusetts, played harmonica in the Chicago Blues style. He served in Vietnam for two years - 1969 to 1971, in the 101st Airborne, 326 Company. He said that "every month in Vietnam you would see three actions...One would be pretty hairy, another would be terrifying and another would totally blow your mind. After two years of that I couldn't deal with America when I got home. Violence became natural to me".1 In the song "Vietnam" (Dusty Road # LP701) he recalled the loneliness and hell of war, while referring to back home in the city as "going to another Vietnam".Sources1smartshanghai.com: Interview charlie sayles (archived copy)↩
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Annotation — Blues songs
Charlie Sayles, from Massachusetts, played harmonica in the Chicago Blues style. He served in Vietnam for two years - 1969 to 1971, in the 101st Airborne, 326 Company. He said that "every month in Vietnam you would see three actions...One would be pretty hairy, another would be terrifying and another would totally blow your mind. After two years of that I couldn't deal with America when I got home. Violence became natural to me".1 In the song "Vietnam" (Dusty Road # LP701) he recalled the loneliness and hell of war, while referring to back home in the city as "going to another Vietnam." Sources1smartshanghai.com: Interview charlie sayles (archived copy)↩
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: Oh Vietnam, on a Thursday afternoon down in the valley... / Birds in the sky there screeching on high... / Bombs off in the distance... / All alone, all alone Vietnam, hell of a place to be / You never know where the next bullet gonna be / One the funniest thing, your sad when you say goodbye / Down in Vietnam, in the mud and rain / I'm going to another Vietnam now, in the city the enemy is on the prowl, they don't look like me
About the artist
American blues harmonica player and Vietnam veteran, born 4 January 1948 in Woburn, Massachusetts; long based in Washington, D.C. [Source: Wikipedia]