Waiting at the Pier
Flame 7409 · USA
- Artist
- Ernie Bevins
- Title
- Waiting at the Pier
- Release
- Waiting at the Pier / Biggest Star in My Hometown
- Label
- Flame # 7409
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- USA
- Genre
- Country · Country
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation
The song "Waiting at the Pier" - date unknown, probably mid to late 1960s. A country song, about a sailor on the "coast of Vietnam" missing his sweetheart, who will be waiting for him at home on the dock. It contained references to combat conditons: "shells are bursting fast and mighty loud". The song also fell into the patriotic camp: "we're going to keep old glory waving at any cost, over a land that is both free and mighty proud". Yet the narrator also said that he did not understand the politics: "I don't even know what were fighting about, I don't know much about politics", which indicates a blind patriotism, rather than fighting for a government objective, such as anti-communism, domino theory, etc.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Ernie Bivens (Robert Ernest Bivens, Jr.), credited on record as Ernie Bivens and Ernie Bivens 3rd, was an American country singer whose documented sessions run from 1966 to 1991, first with his band The Southern Playboys, recording in Nashville for the Flame, American Artists, Nashville American and GBS labels. 'Waiting at the Pier', from his first documented session, was issued on Flame 509 in May 1966. [Source: Praguefrank's Country Discography]