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| "Vietnam:" Single-Serving Tragedies | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Few songs are able to capture three different perspectives of the Vietnam War in only two stanzas. Jimmy Cliff's song is remarkable in that it not only provides the views of a soldier, a soldier's mother, and a soldier's friend, but it also gives a poignant glimpse into the most personal, most tragic part of any war: the death of a young man, the death of a son, the death of a friend.� | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The song centers on correspondence concerning one soldier. In the first stanza, the narrator relates the contents of a letter he received from his "friend fighting in Vietnam" (Cliff). The friend says that he'll be home soon and reminds the narrator to tell the friend's girlfriend Mary about his impending homecoming. In the next stanza, the friend's mother receives a telegram relating her son's death. "Don't be alarmed," reads the telegram. "But Mistress Brown, your son is dead" (Cliff). | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Cliff paints a simple but universal portrait of the dead soldier. In the first stanza, the soldier is obviously excited about coming home. He has written a letter to the narrator asking him to tell his other friends. Had this soldier returned, there would have been a cadre of friendly faces to greet him. Among those would be his girlfriend Mary, "her golden lips as sweet as cherries" (Cliff). This was a sociable boy with a future of having fun with his friends, having a family with his girlfriend, and having the potential to make his mother proud. In short, he was the poster-child of the na�ve sentimentalities of the pre-War years. And like so many Americans, the Vietnam War tore that future away from him. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| According to the song, the soldier's mother received the telegram about his death the day after the first letter arrived. The hopes built up by the letter, the plans made - they were all illusory. The soldier was already dead. There would be no homecoming. For Mistress Brown, there were no Eldson McGhees to deliver the message in person. Instead, the cold, impersonal telegram bid the mother not to be alarmed. Her son, so close to being finished with his military stint halfway across the world, was dead. She would never see her son again, never see her dreams for him fulfilled, but by God, at least she was still safe from Communism. She and a Vietnamese population that would have voted for Ho Chi Minh if given the chance could rest assured that Uncle Sam had made the best decisions for both of them. Oh, there was certainly no reason to be alarmed. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Cliff's upbeat music and almost total lack of emotion from the narrator belie the true intent of the song. On a superficial level, the song merely relates the story of one soldier who happens to be one of the 58,000 to die in Vietnam. But this soldier was the son of one Mistress Brown. Considering the African ancestry of Cliff himself and the overwhelming numbers of black Americans killed in the war, one could assume that the soldier killed was also black. Thus the story related takes on racial dimensions as well. During the 1960's, when "Vietnam" was composed, black Americans were avidly seeking equal and fair treatment from the government and society at large to be recognized as human beings. In this arena, a mother received a telegram from the government reducing her son's death to a matter of little alarm. The song's only declarative line, called out insistently rather than sung, seems to say that the war itself is a matter of great alarm: "Somebody please stop that war now!" | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In terms of style, Cliff's understatement merely adds to the universality of the soldier's plight. The use of different perspectives aids the listener in understanding the truly devastating consequences of the war for this young man. In his letter to this friend, the soldier's hope for the future is evident. In the telegram from the government, that hope has been quashed. The soldier's family and friends feel the pain of this; the government is oblivious. The relentless repetition of "Vietnam....Vietnam" throughout the song reflects the way the War permeated the issues of the 1960's. It played a role in civil rights, the counterculture, the failure of the Great Society, and eventually Watergate. Just like in the song, Vietnam was always in the background. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Bob Dylan once said that Jimmy Cliff's "Vietnam" was the greatest protest song he ever heard. The song brings to the forefront the most basic element of the war, namely the men who were fighting and dying for a distant and dubious cause. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| "Vietnam" by Jimmy Cliff | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Yesterday I got a letter from my friend fighting in Vietnam | |||||||||||||||||||||
| And this is what he had to say | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Tell all my friends that I'll be coming home soon | |||||||||||||||||||||
| My time will be up sometime in June | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Don't forget he said, to tell my sweet Mary | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Her golden lips as sweet as cherries | |||||||||||||||||||||
| And it came from ... | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam | |||||||||||||||||||||
| It was just the next day his mother got a telegram | |||||||||||||||||||||
| It was addressed from Vietnam | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Now, Mistress Brown, she lives in the U.S.A. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| And this is what she wrote and said | |||||||||||||||||||||
| "Don't be alarmed" she told me the telegram read | |||||||||||||||||||||
| But Mistress Brown, your son is dead | |||||||||||||||||||||
| And it came from ... | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Somebody please stop that war now!� | |||||||||||||||||||||
| It was just the next day his mother got a telegram | |||||||||||||||||||||
| It was addressed from Vietnam | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Now, Mistress Brown, she lives in the U.S.A. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| And this is what she wrote and said | |||||||||||||||||||||
| "Don't be alarmed" she told me the telegram read | |||||||||||||||||||||
| "But Mistress Brown, your son is dead" | |||||||||||||||||||||
| And it came from ... | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam | |||||||||||||||||||||