President Johnson's Blues

Annotation — Vietnam War Compilations

This 2009 compilation (Agram Blues # AB 2020) by Guido Van Rijn, who has created a series of books and CDs about African-American blues and gospel songs about US Presidents (such as FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, LBJ, Nixon and Carter), included many songs about civil rights, but also Vietnam. The compilation included 10 Vietnam War songs, including some rare releases, such as Viet Nam by Madame Nellie Robinson.1 The notes of the CD booklet said that: "proportionally there were not more African American in Vietnam, but their death rate was thirty percent higher....People began burning their draft cards, and criticism of the once popular president became quite outspoken in blues and gospel lyrics. When Martin Luther King lashed out against the war in 1967, the president felt betrayed by his former civil rights ally. After the 1968 Tet offensive, Johnson’s approval rating dropped to 36%" .Sources1President Johnson's Blues (home.tiscali.nl)↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Agram Blues AB 2020, CD, Netherlands, 2009; 23 blues and gospel songs on the Johnson presidency, 1963-68 (civil rights, riots, the Vietnam War, the 1968 assassinations), companion to Guido van Rijn's book; Vietnam songs include Junior Wells "Vietnam Blues", J.B. Lenoir "Everybody Is Crying About Vietnam", Roscoe Robinson "Don't Forget the Soldiers", Lightnin' Hopkins "Viet Nam War", Robert Pete Williams "Trouble Way Over in Vietnam" and Madame Nellie Robinson "Viet Nam". Entered as one release. [From Discogs and Agram Blues]

About the artist

Various Artists

Themes

LBJ · Anti-War · Civil Rights · Draft Card Burning