JUKEBOX: Star-Spangled Veterans Day
In honor of Veterans/Armistice Day (and last weekend’s Remembrance Day in the UK and Canada), here’s a special Tuesday JUKEBOX of songs that mention or deal with the military in some way. Some are direct from the soldiers themselves, while others are pleas from the gals they left behind. Still others call into question the very act of conflict; remember, it’s possible to support the troops and not the cause. And so, in honor of the men and women of our armed forces, we present…
1) “Ballad of the Green Berets,” SSgt. Barry Sadler (1966)
This song, released in 1966, is one of the few of the 1960s (particularly the mid-’60s) to portray the military in a positive light. It was written by Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler and Robin Moore while Sadler was recovering from a leg wound received during his service in Vietnam. The tune itself was borrowed from a traditional American folk ballad called “The Butcher Boy.” Sadler debuted the song in January 1966 with an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. The song was a major pop hit, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as a crossover hit on the Easy Listening and Country charts.
2) “Soldier Boy,” The Shirelles (1962)
Co-written by the Shirelles’ manager, Florence Greenberg, and Luther Dixon (who also wrote the hit “Sixteen Candles” by the Crests), this song was one of two #1 hits for the Shirelles, along with “Will You Love Me Tomorrow.” It’s written from the perspective of a girl whose boyfriend has gone off to war, and her promise to remain true to him while he’s gone.
3) “Navy Blue,” Diane Renay (1963)
This song reached #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart and topped out at #6 on the Pop chart, and was the first major hit for the then 17-year-old Renay. It tells the story of a girl whose heart is broken because her boyfriend has joined the Navy, and how much she misses him and wants him to return to her.
4) “Universal Soldier,” Donovan (1965)
Written by Canadian singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie after witnessing soldiers returning from Vietnam, and described by her as being “about individual responsibility for war and how the old feudal thinking kills us all,” this song was never a big hit for her. Donovan, however, covered it on his 1965 EP of the same title, and it became a huge success, bringing attention to the song. It became one of the anthems of the anti-war movement, with its theme of “soider-as-everyman” and the futility of war. This song prompted a hostile response from Jan Berry of Jan & Dean, in the form of the song “The Universal Coward,” which heaped vitriol on the war protesters to whom Sainte-Marie’s song had become a rallying cry.
5) “In The Navy,” The Village People (1979)
This song was a follow up to the hit “Y.M.C.A.” which proved to be a terrific promotion for that organization. So much so that the Navy contacted the group’s manager to ask if they could perform a similar song for them to use a recruitment device. Manager Henri Belolo, producer Jacques Morali, and band member Victor Willis (the cop) wrote the song in praise of the Navy. The Village People were one of the earliest groups to shoot music videos for their songs, which, in the days before MTV, received heavy airplay in Europe. They shot an official video for this song on the deck of the USS Reasoner, complete with the full support of the Navy, including equipment and personnel to be used as a recruitment commercial. Unfortunately, this spot was never used in that capacity because more conservative elements complained about a “controversial” group like the Village People promoting the armed forces, and so the project was scrapped. The song, however, still remains as a positive bit of free advertising for the United States Navy.
6) “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” The Band (1969)
Written by Robbie Robertson, this song is about the American Civil War. It describes the suffering of white southerners at the end of the war, and is told from the perspective of Virgil Caine, a Confederate soldier. Robertson has said that the music came to him first, and he was inspired to research the Civil War after visiting the South and hearing, repeatedly, the phrase, “The South will rise again.” References are made to the harsh winter of 1865, the fall of Richmond, Robert E. Lee, and the capture of Jefferson Davis. The song has been called one of the best songs of the ’60s, and was frequently performed by the Band in concert, featuring the three-part harmonies of Levon Helm, Richard Manuel, and Rick Danko. Additionally, the song was covered by Joan Baez in 1971, with some slight changes to the lyrics. Baez’s version reached #3 on the Billboard chart, the highest-charting song of her career.
For more military-themed tunes, check out the rest of our star-spangled playlist on Spotify!
