Vietnam Blues
1967 · AMIGA 4 50 599 · Berlin, USA
- Artist
- Junior Wells
- Title
- Vietnam Blues
- Release
- Vietnam Blues / Roll 'Em Pete
- Year
- 1967
- Label
- AMIGA # 4 50 599
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- Berlin, USA
- Songwriter
- Wells
- Genre
- Blues · Blues
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation — Blues songs
Junior Wells, born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr. (1934-1998) in Memphis Tennessee, moved to Chicago in the late 1940s and based his career in the Chicago soul scene, well-known for his vocals and harmonica. The song "Vietnam-Blues" (AMIGA # 4 50 599) by Junior Wells expressed sympathy for those dying and took an anti-war stance. The narrator began to "sing the blues" for his "brother...in Vietnam", and for all the "mothers, all the wives, all the fathers" who had a son or husband fighting the war. The narrator suggested that those supporting the war "got to be wrong", and it noted that some people had "no respect for" the "country" because of the war. Wells performed an alternative version of the song at the 1966 American Folk Blues Festival, which subsequently appeared on the 1966 album Chicago / The Blues / Today! Vol. 1 (Vanguard Records # VRS-9216), under the title "Viet-Cong Blues". Wells also released the song "The Hippies Are Trying" (1968), a Vietnam-era pro-hippie and peace song.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Wells born in Memphis, Tennessee. Died in Chicago, Illinois