Vietnam Cries U.S.A.
1966 · Halagala HG 30 · UK: England
- Artist
- The Ram Ram Go-Go Biz. Man
- Title
- Vietnam Cries U.S.A.
- Release
- Vietnam Cries U.S.A. / It's Nice to Be Home
- Year
- 1966
- Label
- Halagala # HG 30
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- UK: England
- Songwriter
- Nel Fraser
- Genre
- Reggae · Ska · Reggae
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation
A British ska anti-war song from 1966 called "Vietnam Cries U.S.A." (Halagala # HG 30) which pleaded with President Johnson to stop the war: "we don't want no war in this world Mr. Johnson...stop bombing Vietnam". Released on the rare, obscure British reggae label Halagala, formed by Terry Nelson in the 1960s - born in Guyana, he moved to London and wrote this song. (1) (2) Like J.B. Lenoir above, he particularly drew attention to the mistreatment of African-Americans: "you must set the Negroes free in the USA and we'll live by your laws and obey" - i.e. African-Americans answered the draft call, but they did not receive equal treatment in the US. The label released an instrumental version of this song, called "U.S.A. Out-Cry" (Halagala # HG 26), performed by what appears to be a house band of the label, called the Ram-Ram-Go-Go-Sound.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Annotation — Draft Songs
A British ska anti-war song from 1966 called "Vietnam Cries U.S.A." (Halagala # HG 30) which pleaded with President Johnson to stop the war: "we don't want no war in this world Mr. Johnson...stop bombing Vietnam". Released on the rare, obscure British reggae label Halagala, formed by Terry Nelson in the 1960s - born in Guyana, he moved to London and wrote this song. (1) (2) Like J.B. Lenoir above, he particularly drew attention to the mistreatment of African-Americans: "you must set the Negroes free in the USA and we'll live by your laws and obey" - i.e. African-Americans answered the draft call, but they did not receive equal treatment in the US. The label released an instrumental version of this song, called U.S.A. Out-Cry (Halagala # HG 26), performed by what appears to be a house band of the label, called the Ram-Ram-Go-Go-Sound.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
"Vietnam Cries U.S.A." appeared on Halagala Records (HG 30 AE, 1966) - plainly the same Guyanese circle as row 2975's Ram-Ram-Go-Go-Sound (Halagala, 1967, confirmed Guyanese in Batch 54): identical naming convention, the same label, and mirror-image titles ("Vietnam Cries U.S.A." / "U.S.A. Out-Cry"). [Source: Discogs; cross-reference to row 2975]
Themes
Anti-War · LBJ · Civil Rights
In collections
Civil Rights Songs · Draft Songs · European Songs · Latin & Central American, & Caribbean Music · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs