Vietnam Blues (Alt. Take)

Annotation — Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs

Champion Jack Dupree - born William Thomas Dupree (c.1910-1992) in New Orleans, he played blues piano in the boogie-woogie style, mainly based in Chicago, Illinois. He lived in London and worked in Europe through most of the 1960s. He sung about drugs, drink, and jail, as well as writing many political songs about US presidents (such as FDR, Truman and Kennedy) and the civil right movement (including a composition about Martin Luther King). He recorded this album at Morgan Sound Studios, Willesden, Northwest London in 1971, and released in the UK in 1972 for Sonet (# SNTF 626). Released in the US in 1974 (GNP Crescendo Records # GNPS 10013). (1) The 2004 CD reissue ... (Verve Records) included an alternative take of the Vietnam song discussed below. The recordings featured Peter Curtley (guitar); Paul Rowan (harmonica); Hughie Flint (drums). The song "Vietnam Blues" took an anti-war position. Dupree felt sympathy for "the people over in Vietnam" who suffered a "lot of pain". He wanted the US government to "leave those poor people alone" and to "pull out and go home". He believed that the war would "never end" and that the Vietnamese had a lot of friends: "the Chinese...the North…

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Civil Rights Songs

Champion Jack Dupree - born William Thomas Dupree (c.1910-1992) in New Orleans, he played blues piano in the boogie-woogie style, mainly based in Chicago, Illinois. He lived in London and worked in Europe through most of the 1960s. He sung about drugs, drink, and jail, as well as writing many political songs about US presidents (such as FDR, Truman and Kennedy) and the Civil Rights movement (including a composition about Martin Luther King). He recorded this album at Morgan Sound Studios, Willesden, Northwest London in 1971, and released in the UK in 1972 for Sonet (# SNTF 626). Released in the US in 1974 (GNP Crescendo Records # GNPS 10013). (1) The 2004 CD reissue ... (Verve Records) included an alternative take of the Vietnam song discussed below. The recordings featured Peter Curtley (guitar); Paul Rowan (harmonica); Hughie Flint (drums). The song "Vietnam Blues" took an anti-war position. Dupree felt sympathy for "the people over in Vietnam" who suffered a "lot of pain". He wanted the US government to "leave those poor people alone" and to "pull out and go home". He believed that the war would "never end" and that the Vietnamese had a lot of friends: "the Chinese...the North…

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

About the artist

American blues pianist, born in New Orleans, Louisiana (c. 1908-10); died 21 January 1992 in Hanover, Germany. [Source: Wikipedia]

Themes

Anti-War · Civil Rights

In collections

Blues songs · Civil Rights Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs