The War Drags On

Annotation

In Britain the Labour government (led by Prime Minister Harold Wilson) continually refused the US government's request to send troops to Vietnam. The British public opposed the war, and the country's role in the Malaysian Confrontation and East of Suez economically restricted the government's ability to support the US with forces. Many songs from British artists about the Vietnam conflict appeared throughout the 60s and 70s. The first came from the Essex born folk singer Mick Softly (born 1941). The track "The War Drags On" (Columbia (EMI) # 33SX 1781) drew attention to the objective of the US - to spread democracy to Vietnam: "fight in South Vietnam...for peace, liberty...and make people free". However, Softly criticised the tactics of the US and referred to the history of Vietnam, which had been occupied by Chinese, French, and US troops "for the last twenty years". Donovan covered the song on his 1965 EP The Universal Soldier..

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — European Songs

In Britain the Labour government (led by Prime Minister Harold Wilson) continually refused the US government's request to send troops to Vietnam. The British public opposed the war, and the country's role in the Malaysian Confrontation and East of Suez economically restricted the government's ability to support the US with forces. Many songs from British artists about the Vietnam conflict appeared throughout the 60s and 70s. The first came from the Essex born folk singer Mick Softly (born 1941). The track "The War Drags On" (Columbia (EMI) # 33SX 1781) drew attention to the objective of the US - to spread democracy to Vietnam: "fight in South Vietnam...for peace, liberty...and make people free". However, Softly criticised the tactics of the US and referred to the history of Vietnam, which had been occupied by Chinese, French, and US troops "for the last twenty years". Donovan covered the song on his 1965 EP The Universal Soldier.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Let me tell you the story of a soldier named Dan / Went out to fight the good fight in South Vietnam / Went out to fight for peace, liberty and all / Went out to fight for equality, hope, let's go... / They're just there to try and make the people free / But the way that they're doing it, it don't seem like that to me / Just more blood-letting and misery and tears / That this poor country's known for the last twenty years / And the war drags on... / And the war drags on

About the artist

Mick Softley (Michael Softley, born 26 September 1939 in Essex; died 1 September 2017, aged 77) was an English folk singer-songwriter and guitarist, a prominent figure in the British folk revival of the 1960s who founded a folk club at The Spinning Wheel in Hemel Hempstead and taught the young Donovan Leitch cross-picking guitar at informal sessions in St Albans; Donovan called him a major influence and, once famous, brought him to the attention of producers and labels. Softley later moved to Northern Ireland in 1984, where he continued to perform and to write poetry. "The War Drags On"…

Themes

Anti-War

In collections

European Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]