Voice of a P.O.W.
TIM 107 · Pensacola, Florida
- Artist
- Wally Willette
- Title
- Voice of a P.O.W.
- Release
- Voice of a P.O.W. / Blue Broken Heart
- Label
- TIM # 107
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- Pensacola, Florida, USA
- Songwriter
- Doug Zepp
- Genre
- Country · Country
- Primary theme
- US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs
Annotation — P.O.W. / M.I.A. Songs
The song "Voice of a P.O.W." (TIM # 107) by Wally Willette - he founded the label in 1964 (also known as Tops in Music), based in Pensacola, Florida. Distributed by Sounds of Nashville. (1) The single is undated, but probably released during the war years. Fitting into the country music genre, Willette narrated the song from the perspective of a US P.O.W., who told the listener of the terrible conditions he suffered in prison and the mental and physical impact it had: "just a shell of a man, half alive, half dead...my mind is bent, my legs are getting weak". He said that the North Vietnamese "march me through the streets, they call me dirty names". So he pleaded with the people in the US not to forget about him and the other P.O.W.s. Written by Doug Zepp. Arranged by Know Phillips.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Wallace Delorie Willette (born 2 July 1929 in Bangor, Maine; died 6 January 2008 in Pensacola, Florida) relocated to Pensacola in 1950 and led a rockabilly/country group from c.1955 (as "Wally Willette & His Globe Rockers" and "...And His Blue Ramblers", with the Polk Brothers), recording for Flag (Mobile, 1959), TIM (Nashville, 1960-68) and K-Ark; "Voice Of A P.O.W." appeared on TIM in 1968. [Source: Discogs artist profile; rocky-52.net (corroboration, middle tier)]