Vietnam War Music

And tonight's floor show is:

Inez & Charlie Foxx: Fellows In Vietnam:

Johnny Cash - Drive On (live):

President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu rocking out on the drums.

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13476480@N07/4186880174/

I can't believe I've never posted this Scottish Vietnam War anthem: Marmelade; Reflections Of My Life:



This went to No. 10 in the Billboard charts and was a significant song for those who served in Vietnam.

I remember this song for sure.

F.W. McMahon was an AP (Air Force Policeman) who was posted to Thailand and Vietnam in the late 1960s. He recorded "The Spirit Of The Golden Juice" upon his return to California, which was released on a small L.A. label in 1969:



"‘Yeah, the usual rule of thumb is you enlist for four years, you’d spend two or three in the States doing what I was doing, then the last year they’d ship you over to south-east Asia and then, depending on where you were stationed, you could easily party yourself to death, or you could be killed by the people who wanted to kill us.  [...] My main station was Don Mueang, Thailand, which was the military part of the main airport at Bangkok. And then what would happen is they’d form teams, and if they thought military reinforcement was needed at Cam Rahn Bay or Da Nang or whatever, they’d get a team of twenty or fifty guys and they’d fly ’em there for a few days to beef up their security forces. So I got to go all over Vietnam, and most of the time it was OK. But then sometimes at night time people would be shooting at you, trying to kill you, and you didn’t even know. The first time that happened, I’m sitting in a vehicle, guarding the runway [in Cam Rahn Bay, Vietnam], and then I started seeing little flashes about halfway down the runway – started hearing pop, pop, pop: “Oh shit, it’s really war!” But the majority of the time you’re too hot, too cold, too bored, and every once in a while somebody would shoot a mortar shell at you or something.’

https://www.caughtbytheriver.net/2017/09/vietnam-war-cosmic-american-music-numero-group-f-j-mcmahon/

Johnny Rivers in Vietnam:



An Khe, March 1966 - Johnny Rivers Performs at a USO Show.
Rivers was headlining a show with Ann-Margret, performing for the 1st Air Cavalry Division.

Photographer: Jim Salvas
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/97930879@N02/14217612578/in/photostream/

More photos from his 1966 tour of South Vietnam:

http://riversjohnny.blogspot.com/2010/01/jrs-vietnam-shows.html

And a song he wrote about the war, from his 1968 LP "Realization":

Honey Ltd: The Warrior:



"From what we saw in print after the fact, it seems some people misunderstood Laura [Polkinghome]’s lyric, taking it for a pro-war song. We did travel to Vietnam with Bob Hope to sing for the troops. It was an honor to support our brave men and women. We even saw some of our friends there. It wasn’t about the politics of this very unpopular war; it was about people in harm’s way." - Joan Sliwin, Honey Ltd

Honey Ltd: The Warrior, produced by Lee Hazlewood and released on his LHI label in 1968:



"From what we saw in print after the fact, it seems some people misunderstood Laura [Polkinghome]’s lyric, taking it for a pro-war song. We did travel to Vietnam with Bob Hope to sing for the troops. It was an honor to support our brave men and women.  We even saw some of our friends there. It wasn’t about the politics of this very unpopular war; it was about people in harm’s way." - Joan Sliwin, Honey Ltd