Where Are You Now My Son?
1973 · A&M SP-4390 · Los Angeles, California
- Artist
- Joan Baez
- Title
- Where Are You Now My Son?
- Release
- Where Are You Now, My Son?
- Year
- 1973
- Label
- A&M # SP-4390
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- Los Angeles, California, USA
- Songwriter
- Joan Baez
- Genre
- Folk · Contemporary Folk · Field Recordings
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation
In 1972 Baez traveled to North Vietnam during Nixon's controversial "Christmas Bombings" on Hanoi and Haiphong (official named Operation Linebacker II). (1) Baez produced this protest album about that trip, released in 1973. She was also involved in other forms of protest, such as Martin Luther King's March on Washington in 1963 and the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam on 15 October 1969; the Draft Resistance, an organisation run by her then husband David Harris. Moreover, from 1964, Baez refused to pay 60% of her taxes, which she claimed went towards armaments, and the Vietnam War. (2). The country singer Bill Anderson attacked Baez for this in the song "Where Have All Our Heroes Gone". Also see the Baez song "Saigon Bride" released in 1967. The title track "Where Are You Now, My Son?" (A&M Records # SP-4390) included a poignant reference to the Christmas holiday. Firstly, Baez recalled the soldiers "sheepishly" asking her on Christmas eve to sing an old folk song. Then the group - the French, the Poles, the Indians, the Cubans, the Vietnamese, and the Americans - turned to the "familiar psalms" of Christmas, but the singing "was shattered by the bombs", reminding then that…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Annotation — Christmas Songs
In 1972 Baez traveled to North Vietnam during Nixon's controversial "Christmas Bombings" on Hanoi and Haiphong (official named Operation Linebacker II). (1) Baez produced this protest album about that trip, released in 1973. She was also involved in other forms of protest, such as Martin Luther King's March on Washington in 1963 and the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam on 15 October 1969; the Draft Resistance, an organisation run by her then husband David Harris. Moreover, from 1964, Baez refused to pay 60% of her taxes, which she claimed went towards armaments, and the Vietnam War. (2). The country singer Bill Anderson attacked Baez for this in the song "Where Have All Our Heroes Gone". Also see the Baez song "Saigon Bride" released in 1967. The title track "Where Are You Now, My Son?" (A&M Records # SP-4390) included a poignant reference to the Christmas holiday. Firstly, Baez recalled the soldiers "sheepishly" asking her on Christmas eve to sing an old folk song. Then the group - the French, the Poles, the Indians, the Cubans, the Vietnamese, and the Americans - turned to the "familiar psalms" of Christmas, but the singing "was shattered by the bombs", reminding then that…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Born 9 January 1941, Staten Island, New York, USA. Currently Woodside, California, USA
Themes
Anti-War · Christmas · Soldier's Perspective · Christmas Bombings · Vietnamese Perspective · P.O.W. · Hanoi