Vietnam Will Win!

Annotation

The Red Star Singers were a San Francisco-based folk group formed in 1971, featuring Gary Lapow (guitar and lead vocals), Ron Rosenbaum (guitar and vocals), Mike Margulis (bass, French horn and vocals), and Bonnie Lockhart (percussion and lead vocals).1 They only released one album, The Force of Life (Paredon Records # P-1023), which looked at many social-economic, and political issues, including Vietnam, Richard Nixon, and Watergate. Released on the label founded by Barbara Dane and Irwin Silber in 1969, whose objective was to "seek out the music and speech, documentary or dialogue, that spring from the conscious artist who relates to people's movements, and which pour from all people in struggle".2 The song "Pig Nixon" contained a reference to the Indo-China War: "they said the U.S. fights for freedom and never suffered a defeat, we thank the Indochinese people for proving that's just jive, they're gonna keep on fightin', and their freedom will survive".3 The anti-war song "Vietnam Will Win!", supported the cause of the Vietnamese, containing socialist sentiment:Sources1Smithsonian Folkways: American folk struggle protest↩2FTA - Songs of the GI Resistance (Barbara Dane)↩3Red Star Singers - The Force of Life↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: They came for power and fortune / Like the aggressors before / The packed the people into hamlets... / The burned, and bombed, and raped... / Let the struggle and resistance begin... / Let the peasants lead again

About the artist

American political song group of the 1970s San Francisco Bay Area, California; recorded 'The Force of Life' (Paredon Records, 1974). [Source: Wikipedia]