White Boots Marching in a Yellow Land
1968 · A&M SP 4148 · Los Angeles, California
- Artist
- Phil Ochs
- Title
- White Boots Marching in a Yellow Land
- Release
- Tape From California
- Year
- 1968
- Label
- A&M # SP 4148
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- Los Angeles, California, USA
- Songwriter
- Phil Ochs
- Genre
- Folk · Contemporary Folk
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation
Phil Ochs, a leading protest / topical singer, born 19 December 1940 in El Paso, Texas, USA, and died on 9 April 1976, in Far Rockaway, New York, USA. He often played songs at anti-war and civil rights rallies in the 1960s and early 1970s, including outside the Democratic National Convention in 1968. (1) He released many anti-Vietnam War songs during the era, which included "Talking Vietnam", one of the first Vietnam songs released, on his 1964 album All the News That's Fit to Sing. Other prominent songs included "I Ain't Marching Anymore", "Draft Dodger Rag", and "Days of Decision" on I Ain't Marching Anymore (1965), "White Boots Marching in a Yellow Land" and "The War Is Over" on Tape From California (1968), "William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park and Escapes Unscathed", "Where Were You in Chicago" and "Another Age" on Rehearsals for Retirement (1969), "What Are You Fighting For", on Sings for Broadside (1976), the single Here's to the State of Richard Nixon (1974), and spoken-word tracks on the album Interviews With Phil Ochs (1976). He also recorded the song "We Seek No Wider War" in 1965, which appeared on the compilation The Best of Broadside 1962-1988 (2000).On this album…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Annotation — Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs
On the album Tape From California (A&M Records # SP 4148) featured the well known and memorable "The War Is Over". Also on this album, the track "White Boots Marching in a Yellow Land", which took a strong anti-war position. It used a more poetic approach compared to Ochs' other Vietnam-related tracks, noting the destruction of villages "written in the ashes of the village towns we burn", and the death of soldiers: "written in the empty bed of the fathers un-returned". The lyrics first appeared in Broadside # 68.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
born 19 December 1940 in El Paso, Texas, USA, and died on 9 April 1976, in Far Rockaway, New York, USA