Credited on the record as Ernie Bivens and the Southern Playboys.
Waiting at the Pier
Flame 509 · USA
- Artist
- Ernie Bivens
- Credited on the record as
- Ernie Bivens and the Southern Playboys
- Title
- Waiting at the Pier
- Release
- Waiting at the Pier / Biggest Star in My Hometown
- Label
- Flame # 509
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- USA
- Songwriter
- Ernie Bivens
- Genre
- Country · Honky Tonk
- 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 conditions: "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
Lyrics
English: It's almost a year since I left the USA / On a ship for the South China Seas, just a sailor on a boat / And so far away from home and nothing but my sweet memories / But I know she is still thinking of me / Everyday she sends her love over here / On the coast of Vietnam / And I know when I get home / I will find her, she'll be waiting at the pier.... / You know I joined the navy in 1961, I thought I had it all figured out / That to travel and see the world would be a lot of fun / But then I met the girl of my dreams.../ We were married... / This situation in Vietnam came up / And my buddies and me had to come over here an help out / I'll sure be glad when its over... / I don't even know what were fighting about / I don't know much about politics / But I do know the shells are bursting fast and mighty loud / And I also know we're going to keep old glory waving at any cost / Over a land that is both free and mighty proud / It helps a lot to read her letters, she sends one almost every day / Somehow I know when I get back home hers will be the first face I see / Yeah, she'll be there, waiting at the pier
Notes
Flame F 509 (T4KM-7409), Flame Record Co., a division of Givens-Scoggins Ent., 814 16th Ave. S., Nashville, Tenn.; "Waiting at the Pier" (Ernie Bivens), 2:43, Seeus Music (B.M.I.); produced by Johnny Scoggins and Chuck Givens; Ernie Bivens and the Southern Playboys. [From the record sleeve and labels]
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]
Themes
In collections
Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years] · US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs [War Years]