What's Been Going On In Viet Nam
1968 · Parrot PAR-322 · USA
- Artist
- Ginger & Jean
- Title
- What's Been Going On In Viet Nam
- Release
- What's Been Going on in Viet Nam / Miss, May I Drive You Home
- Year
- 1968
- Label
- Parrot # PAR-322
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- USA
- Genre
- Country · Country
- Primary theme
- Home Front Perspective / Soldier's Perspective
Annotation
Ginger and Jean, two of the sisters from the country group The Dinning Sisters, based in Oklahoma, US, released the song "What's Been Going on in Vietnam" (Parrot # PAR-322). The narrator described that a man had just returned from Vietnam. His wife felt that something strange had come between then. She searched his suitcase and found a picture, with the narrator providing a racist description: "a picture of a slant-eyed girl...she's holding a baby". So while the GI was away he had an affair with a Vietnamese girl, and apparently fathered a child. A similar theme appeared in the song "Something You Couldn't Write About" by soul singer Gloria Edwards, whose protagonist also found a picture, also using a racist description: "some slant-eyed woman". Note: furlough - a temporary leave of absence from military duty.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Ginger and Jean Dinning were two of the American singing Dinning Sisters, who broadcast on WENR Chicago from 1939 and on National Barn Dance before moving to Hollywood in 1949. Jean (Eugenia Doy Dinning, 29 March 1924 - 22 February 2011, Garden Grove, California) co-wrote the 1959 hit 'Teen Angel' under her married name Jean Surrey; Ginger (Virginia Moy Dinning, 1924-2013) sang alongside her. "What's Been Going On in Viet Nam", written by Jean Surrey, was issued on Parrot 45-PAR-322 in July 1967, backed with 'Miss, May I Drive You Home'. [Source: Wikipedia; Discogs]