Wish You Were Here, Buddy

Annotation

The song "Wish You Were Here, Buddy" (Dot Records # 16933), used sarcasm to express his loyalty to the US soldier, support for government policies, and disgust with the protest movement. Narrated in the first person, from the perspective of a soldier in Vietnam, who wrote to his "buddy" back home - the lyrics switched between describing the situation in the war zone, to the soldier noting the activities in the US. So the soldier heard that his friend had been "leading those campus demonstrations", busy with "sit downs, walk outs", and had "struck a little match" to his "old draft card". The soldier sarcastically commented that "I know you are not scared...you just stay home and leave the fighting to us". The narrator humorously compared this to ... - later known as Muhammad Ali - who tried, and failed, to obtain conscientious objector status in 1967 (refusing to turn up for induction), and subsequently convicted. This contrasted to his legendary career in the boxing ring: "you're a regular Cassius Clay". (1) The narrator also took pleasure in mocking the appearance of his friend: "you let your hair grow...you hardly have time to shave...you look so fine like, something crawled out…

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Civil Rights Songs

The song "Wish You Were Here, Buddy" (Dot Records # 16933), used sarcasm to express his loyalty to the US soldier, support for government policies, and disgust with the protest movement. Narrated in the first person, from the perspective of a soldier in Vietnam, who wrote to his "buddy" back home - the lyrics switched between describing the situation in the war zone, to the soldier noting the activities in the US. So the soldier heard that his friend had been "leading those campus demonstrations", busy with "sit downs, walk outs", and had "struck a little match" to his "old draft card". The soldier sarcastically commented that "I know you are not scared...you just stay home and leave the fighting to us". The narrator humorously compared this to Cassius Clay - later known as Muhammad Ali - who tried and failed to obtain conscientious objector status in 1967 (refusing to turn up for induction), and subsequently convicted, famously saying "I ain't got no quarrel with them Vietcong" - this was seen as both a religious and Civil Rights message. This contrasted to his legendary career in the boxing ring: "you're a regular Cassius Clay". (1) The narrator also took pleasure in mocking the…

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

About the artist

American pop singer, born 1 June 1934 in Jacksonville, Florida ('Wish You Were Here, Buddy'). [Source: Wikipedia]

Themes

Patriotic · Draft Card Burning · Demonstration · Muhammad Ali · Draft Resistance · Draft

In collections

Civil Rights Songs · Draft Songs · US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs