Vietnam Blues
1998 · Fury [UK] F3042 · Southsea, UK: England
- Artist
- The Caravans
- Title
- Vietnam Blues
- Release
- Glamorous Heart Motel Blues
- Year
- 1998
- Label
- Fury [UK] # F3042
- Format
- 10" · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- Southsea, UK: England
- Genre
- Rock · Rock
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation
The Caravans, a Psychobilly group - a cross-pollination of Punk Rock and Rockabilly - formed in 1983 in Southsea, UK, led by Mark Pennington, released the song "Vietnam Blues" (Fury Records # F3042), a cover an obscure Atlanta, Georgia country artist Elvis Carden, who released the single Viet Nam Blues / Loving a Soldier in 1967. It told the story of a soldier who is in a "fight in Vietnam, 23 hours a day", fighting off the Viet Cong (or "VC") - the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (Vietnamese: Mặt trận Dân tộc Giải phóng Miền Nam Việt Nam) (NLFSV or NLF), the political and military resistance to the US and South Vietnamese government from within South Vietnam. The soldier "got a woman stateside...down in Western Georgia". However, at the end of the song, the narrator reports that his sweetheart had left him: "my baby went and left me, cause she loves cocaine".
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: Well I fight in Vietnam / 23 hours a day / What these Congs will do, I'm too scared to say / I've got the blues baby / Vietnam blues / Well, I've got a woman stateside / She is so far from you / I've got the Vietnam blues / Eating army rations... / Vietnam blues / I've got a pretty woman / I'll die from these Vietnam blues / Down in Western Georgia... well I met a pretty woman / She was so sweet / I got the Vietnam blues... / Working in the army / Sixteen hours a day / Well my baby went and left me / Cause she loves cocaine / I got the Vietnam blues...
About the artist
American gospel group formed 1952 in Chicago, Illinois. [Source: Wikipedia]