In Country: Folks Songs of Americans in the Vietnam War

For today's MusicMonday I'd like to present an album I had to buy for a college course, way back in the day, which then I soon started to enjoy quite a lot. It was folklore class, taught by Dr. Lydia Fish at Buffalo State College. At first I was looking forward to immersing myself into old folk tales and bluegrass tunes from remote Appalachian communities, as the stereotypical image of a folklore class would suggest. And indeed, many researchers on the eastern seaboard took advantage of the fascinating cultural treasures those mountain villages held. Not so Dr. Fish!

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At the time she was writing her dissertation, the Vietnam war war raging, which didn't leave many people unaffected. Hanging out with soldiers, sailors, and airmen, she noticed the rich musical context these service men shared: many popular tunes from the genres of rock, pop, and country were given alternative lyrics, describing the experience of the war. Just like in any folkloric setting, the individual songs were taken up and played by various musicians, each performer adding to the song, making it more elaborate and expressive.

I always enjoyed listening to this collection, at first from a musical point of view, since I've always been fond of the music of the era, but gradually paying more attention to the lyrics, and thus learning about the war. Today, I'm glad to see the entire album on YouTube, and additionally pages like this one, or Dr. Fish's own site provide interesting info on the musicians and individual songs, stuff I remember learning about, before it was buried in the depths of my memory.

The topics range from the unproductive lollygagging of rear echelon personnel, as in Saigon Warrior, to the vivid description of air battles, such as Jolly Green, Cobra Seven, or Tchepone. The songs King of the Trail, Ling Po Drove the Truck Away, and Sitting in the Cab of My Truck were even written from the point of view of North Vietnamese truck drivers on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. (You might have guessed from the titles that these three songs were based on the famous tunes of King of the Road, Michael Rowed the Boat Ashore, and Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.)

Many songs are meant to be funny and light-hearted, talking about the potentially bad consequences of mixing with local exotic women, as the song Chu Yen illustrates, or the pleasures and pains of getting drunk on the local Ba Muoi Ba beer. Others bring the listener close to the realities of combat, whether from the perspective of the infantryman, as in Crack Went the Rifle, or from the view of the fighter pilot, shown in Pull the Boom from the Gas Hole. Ultimately though, the general tendency is to remind the audience - themselves primarily active duty service men - of the one thing all military personnel dream about: Returning home safely to one's loved ones. This is addressed by the last few songs on the album, such as Freedom Bird, Fighter Pilot's Christmas, and Played Around and Stayed Around.

I can recommend this amazing album to anyone interested in the Vietnam War, and would like to hear about it from those who have been there. Of course, those veterans who have served in Vietnam, and are not familiar with this collection, should most certainly check it out, as I'm sure they will recognize a song or the other.