FOLKSONGS OF AMERICANS IN THE VIETNAM WAR
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bartman, William J. "Soldiers' Ballads Tell Saga of Vietnam War." Stars and Stripes (European edition), July 24, 1989.
Bloom, Lary. "Boonie Tunes." Hartford Courant, August 4, 1991.
Broudy, Saul P. "A Chopper Pilot's Day": The Singing Tradition of the Army Aviator in Vietnam," unpublished ms., 1987.
-------- "G.I. Folklore in Vietnam." M.A. thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 1969.
[Briefly discusses military folklore in Vietnam with a list of slang terms. Also reproduces 23 texts from the songbook of the 48th Assault Helicopter Company and 22 songs transcribed from a tape recording of a singing contest held at an aviation unit commanders' conference in Nha Trang, April, 1967.]
-------- "Politics in Vietnam Helicopter Pilot Songs," unpublished ms., 1972.
Carol Burke, "Marching to Vietnam," Journal of American Folklore 102, no. 406 (October-December, 1989):424-441.
[Cadence in the Vietnam-era military]
Burruss, L. H (Bucky) Lt. Col. USA Special Forces (Ret.). Mike Force. New York: Pocket Books, 1989: 61, 110, 146, 156.
Texts of "Green Beret and Friendly FAC," "Mary Anne Barnes," "They Promised Us Wings of Silver," and "Rat-A-Tat-Tat."
Clark, Charlie. "Looking Back on Vietnam and Its Music," Veteran, 6, no. 2 (February, 1986):10-13, 22-23.
Cleveland, Les. Dark Laughter: War in Song and Popular Culture. Westport CT: Praeger Publishers, 1994.
[Chapter on Vietnam War songs]
-------- "Songs of the Vietnam War: An Occupational Folk Tradition," unpublished ms., 1986.
[Deals mostly with song traditions in New Zealand units in Vietnam]
Columbino, Ralph. "Taisau (Why)," Sing Out, 17, no. 1 (February-March, 1967):9.
[Text of song "written in Viet Nam by Lance Corporal Ralph Columbino, USMC" in 1966; also in Lansdale]
Cote, Jean C. "Blues in Vietnam," Music Journal, 26 (February, 1968):48.
[Band of the Commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet]
Crofut, William. Troubadour: A Different Battlefield. New York: E. P. Duttom, 1968.
[Personal account of two folksingers, Steve Addis and Bill Crofut, who toured 29 countries in eight years for USIS. Three chapters on Vietnam.]
Currey, Cecil. Edward Lansdale: The Unquiet American. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1989.
Dane, Barbara and Silber, Irwin. The Vietnam Songbook. New York: Guardian, 1969.
[144 songs from the anti-war movement. Two, by "anonymous American G.I.'s" are variants of songs in the Lansdale collection. A few were written by veterans.]
DeGracci, Jim SP4. "Band Socks It To 'em Everywhere." The Green Beret (October, 1970), Fifth Special Forces Group (Abn.), Nha Trang.
Denisoff, R Serge. "Fighting Prophecy With Napalm: The Ballad of the Green Berets," Journal of American Culture 13 (Spring, 1990):81-93.
[Excellent article on the early career of Barry Sadler.]
Durham, James P. ("Bull"). Songs of SACk. 1965.
-------- Songs of S.E.A. Dur-Don Enterprises, 1970.
[100 songs collected during the author's tour of duty, 1969-1970]
Fall, Bernard. Street Without Joy. Fourth edition, revised. Harrisburg: The Stackpole Company, 1964.
Text of "The Viet-Cong Blues," sung by the Special Forces Team of 1/Lt. John B. Dooley.
Fish, Lydia. "From the Delta to the DMZ: Folksongs of the Vietnam War," New York Folklore Newsletter, 9, no. 4, (Winter, 1988-1989), 2, 3, 11.
-------- "General Edward G. Lansdale and the Folksongs of Americans in the Vietnam War," Journal of American Folklore 102, no. 406 (October-December, 1989) 390-411.
-------- and Bowen, Thomas. The Longest Year. A Collection of Songs by Advisors and Civilians in the Vietnam War. Buffalo: Vietnam Veterans Oral History and Folklore Project, 1990.
[62 songs from various manuscript and tape sources. Some were written or collected by General Bowen during his tours in Vietnam, 1963-1965, 1967-1969, 1971-1972.]
-------- "Vietnam War--American Songs: The General Edward G. Lansdale Collection," Folklife Center News, 9, no. 3 (summer, 1989).
-------- "Walking in Charlie's Land: Songs by Americans in the Vietnam War," SUNY Research, May, 1991.
-------- "What Did You Sing in the War?" New York State Veterans' Interchange, 1, no. 1 (spring, 1990) 15-16
-------- "What Did You Sing in the War? Vietnam Rocked and Rolled for Most Soldiers," Vietnam October, 1990: 58, 61.
Foster, Wynn F. Captain Hook: A Pilot's Tragedy and Triumph in the Vietnam War. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1991.
Appendix of songs composed aboard the USS Oriskany, 1965-1966.
Getz, C.W. The Wild Blue Yonder: Songs of the Air Force. Vol I. Burlingame, CA: Redwood Press, 1981.
[Good detail on variants and sources. Lists 33 unit songbooks. Contains texts of 661 songs and many variants.]
-------- The Wild Blue Yonder: Songs of the Air Force. Vol. II. Stag Bar Edition. Burlingame, CA: Redwood Press, 1986.
[Lists 23 songbooks of military organizations and reproduces 336 texts, with glossary]
Gonzalez, David. "From Smokey Saigon Bars to Stateside Concerts." The New York Times, November 7, 1993.
Hardin, James. "Songs of Vietnam-Era Soldiers Featured at Center Program, Folklife Center News, 9, no. 3, summer, 1989.
Hargrove, Thomas R. A Dragon Lives Forever. IVY Ballantine Books, 1994
[Memoirs of an Army Captain Ag Advisor with the CORDS in the Delta, includes texts of songs he wrote]
Hughes, Toby. "What the Captain Means: Songs of the In-Country Air War." Unpublished ms, 1989.
Jonas, Dick. The Dick Jonas Songbook. Vol. 1. Litchfield Park, AZ: Erosonic Enterprises, 1976.
[Words and notes to 23 songs by Dick Jonas]
-------- RBAAB: The Red-Blooded All-American Boy. Fort Mojave AZ: Erosonic, 1996.
[The songbook companion to six albums of military aviation music by Dick Jonas. Words and notes to 72 songs, mostly by Dick Jonas, some traditional.]
Lansdale, Edward Geary. In the Midst of Wars: An American's Mission to Southeast Asia. New York: Harper and Row, 1972.
Maxa, Rudy. "What Did You Sing in the War, Daddy?" The Washington Post, Potomac Magazine, (February 23, 1975), 4.
Noel, Reuben, and Nancy Noel. Saigon for a Song: The True Story of a Vietnam Gig to Remember. Phoenix: UCS Press, 1987.
[Personal narrative by a husband-wife entertainment team]
"On Top of Old Ap Bac," Newsweek, March 15, 1963
Patrick, Joe. "Former ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’ Gunship Pilot James P. Durham Is a True Balladeer of the Vietnam War," Vietnam, August, 1996: 12, 16, 64, 66.
Pendleton, Scott. "The Unsung Story: Vietnam Songwriters." The Christian Science Monitor, November 10, 1992.
Perry, Charles. "Is This Any Way To Run the Army? Stoned?" Rolling Stone, no. 51 (November 9, 1968), 1, 6, 8, 9.
[Excellent discussion of AFVN Radio and musical preferences of troops in Vietnam]
Ploetz, Elmer. "In Country. A Buffalo State College Researcher is Compiling the Work of Some Unlikely Musicians: Those on the Front Lines in the Vietnam War." The Buffalo News, May 3, 1992.
"The Purple Heart Boogie." Time, March 4, 1966:41.
Ritter, Jeff. "Songs of the Vietnam War," Broadside, 172 (April, 1986):3-9, 13.
[Words of 10 songs from Lansdale collection and one by Rick Duvall, words and music to one song by Jim Wachtendonk]
"Rock and Roll Song Becoming Vietnam's Tipperary," New York Times, June 14, 1967.
Sadler, Barry. I'm a Lucky One. With Tom Mahoney. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1967.
[Personal narrative of Sadler's tour in Vietnam]
Safer, Morley. Flashbacks. New York: Random House, 1990: 164.
[Text of Hershel Gober's "Saigon Warrior"]
Scroft, Gene. "Eternal Mercenary." Soldier of Fortune, February, 1989.
[Recent activities of Barry Sadler]
Shadbolt, Stuart Lt. Col. Letter to Air Force Magazine, December 1971: 16.
[Texts of two Nail FAC songs: "Well, I Am a Nail FAC in Laos" and "Run, Run, Cricket Run."]
Sheehan, Neil. Bright Shining Lie. New York: Random House, 1988.
[Text of "Ap Bac," composed by a helicopter pilot or crewman after the battle and "sung in the evenings over gin and vodka and cold beer in the clubs at Soc Trang."]
Sipchen, Bob. "The Ballad of Barry Sadler." Los Angeles Times, January 27, 1989, sec. 5, col. 1.
Slavin, Peter. "Singing in the Ranks," Army Times, April 17, 1989.
Stevens, Bob. "There I Was...Flat on My Back." Fallbrook CA: Aero Publishers, 1975.
[Excellent collection of Air Force songs and cartoons from World War II through Vietnam.]
Treaster, Joseph B. "G.I. View of Vietnam," New York Times Magazine, October 30, 1966:100, 102, 104, 106, 109.
Tuso, Joseph. "Folksongs of American Fighter Pilot in Southeast Asia, 1967-1968," Folklore Forum, Bibliographical and Special Series no. 7, 1971.
[33 pilots' songs from Vietnam with glossary and introduction describing the performance of the songs]
-------- Singing the Vietnam Blues: Songs of the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam. College Station: Texas A and M Press, 1990.
Ward, William A. "U.S. Army Vietnam Band: Always on Sunday," Music Journal, 28 (November, 1970): 30, 31, 45.
Weiss, Lt. Col. George L, USAF (Ret.). "Throw a Nickel on the Grass." Air Force Magazine, September, 1971: 84-90.
Woodruff, John E. "Songs Helicopter Pilots Sing on Flag Day in Vietnam: 'Napalm Sticks to Kids.'" Baltimore Sun, June 15, 1970.
VIETNAMESE FOLK SONGS
"Songs and Vietnamese Clientele are Sad at Nightclub in Saigon." New York Times, December 14, 1969.
Treaster, Joseph B. "Saigon Bans the Anti-War Songs of Vietnamese Singer." New York Times, February 12, 1969, 18. [Ref: Bernard]
Weinraub, Bernard. "A Vietnamese Guitarist Sings of Sadness of War," New York Times, January 1, 1968, 3 [Ref: Arnold]
Reprinted in Broadside (New York City), 99 (June, 1969): 4
RELATED BOOKS AND ARTICLES
Bindes, Kenneth J; Houston, Craig. "Takin' Care of Business: Rock Music, Vietnam and the Protest Myth," The Historian, 52 (November, 1989):1-23.
--------; Romanowski, William D. "The Pentagon's Top Guns: Movies and Music," Journal of American Culture, 12 (Fall, 1989):67-78.
Elison, Mary. "Black Music and the Vietnam War," in Walsh, Jeffrey (ed.) and Aulich, James (ed.), Vietnam Images: War and Representation. New York: St. Martin's, 1989.
James, David R. "Rock and Roll in Representations of the Invasion of Vietnam," Representations, 29 (Winter, 1990):78-98.
-------- "The Vietnam War and American Music," in Berg, Richard (ed.) and Rowe, John Carlos (ed.), The Vietnam War and American Culture. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991.
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