The War Keeps Draggin' On
1971 · Decca 32909 · New York City, New York
- Artist
- The Wilburn Brothers
- Title
- The War Keeps Draggin' On
- Release
- The War Keeps Draggin' On / Bloomin' Fools
- Year
- 1971
- Label
- Decca # 32909
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- New York City, New York, USA
- Songwriter
- Larry Whitehead
- Genre
- Country · Close Harmony · Nashville Sound
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation
"The War Keeps Draggin' On" (Decca Records # 32909). The group, which featured the brothers Doyle Wilburn and Teddy Wilburn from Hardy, Arkansas, both served in the US army during the Korean War.2 They also released the two Vietnam-related songs "Little Johnny From Down the Street" and "Vision at the Peace Table" on the album Little Johnny From Down the Street (Decca Records # DL 75173) In a war that keeps on dragging on"Sources2The Encyclopedia of Country Music (Michael McCall, 2012)↩
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Annotation — Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs
"The War Keeps Draggin' On" (Decca Records # 32909). The group, which featured the brothers Doyle Wilburn and Teddy Wilburn from Hardy, Arkansas, both served in the US army during the Korean War.2 They also released the two Vietnam-related songs "Little Johnny From Down the Street" and "Vision at the Peace Table" on the album Little Johnny From Down the Street (Decca Records # DL 75173)Sources2The Encyclopedia of Country Music (Michael McCall, 2012)↩
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: He's sitting on his lonely post out there / Danger and death are in the air / And the war keeps on dragging on / All alone and no friends there / He gets his first taste of fear / And the war keeps on dragging on / He wades through mud and the blood and the heat / Can't tell a friend from an enemy / Sure makes a homesick soldier feel alone / If anybody ever said a prayer / Say it for the young men over there... / I wonder how many more young men / Will lose their buddies and friends... / Some of these boys will lose their lives / Some will lose sweethearts and wives... / Last night his best buddy Jim / Caught a bullet, poor him / And I wonder if it was your Jim / Who caught that bullet meant for him / In a war that keeps on dragging on
Notes
Decca 32909 (123,678), side A, mono, "Promotion Copy - Not for Sale"; "The War Keeps Draggin' On" (Larry G. Whitehead), 2:58, Sure-Fire Music Co., Inc. (BMI); manufactured by Decca Records, a division of MCA Inc., New York. Decca company sleeve, © MCA Records, Inc., 1971. [From the record sleeve and labels]
About the artist
Formed 1953, Hardy, Arkansas, USA. Disbanded 1982
Themes
Soldier's Perspective · Anti-War · Vet · Combat · Jungle · Religion