[Publius]

In 1966 Lyndon Johnson began ramping up his Vietnam adventure with all the subtlety of a steam calliope going full blast. “Let’s nail that coonskin over the mantle,” he told the troops. People were blithely marching off to war. Neither Johnson nor Robert McNamara gave much thought as to what constituted victory or how it could be achieved. McNamara’s obsession with statistics and jargon made him the laughingstock of the press and even some of his own officers. Johnson’s line of thinking rarely got beyond slogans. There had been a few small antiwar demonstrations in 1965, but they received little notice. The attitude in 1966 was one of confidence.

The priest teaching religion at the overrated Catholic prep school I attended was scathing in his criticism of this song. He viewed it as nothing more than propaganda, which was probably an accurate conclusion. What outraged him was that death was nothing more than a casual footnote in the song, a human life was totally expendable, and the last words of the warrior asked his wife to put his son in the same predicament in the future. I viewed the priest as unpatriotic at the time, but history proved that old biblical scholar to be right.

Barry Sadler had only one hit which came in at #1 this week. In his later life he attempted writing, among other pursuits. He did 21 days jail time for a murder rap in 1979 where he was able to claim some degree of self defense. He relocated to Guatemala where was killed in a robbery in 1989.

Barry Sadler: “The Ballad of the Green Berets”

And so we end one week of music history 47 years ago. See you tomorrow night! Cue the Rockumentary theme!

San Remo Golden Strings: “Festival Time”

[ConorMacNessa]

GOD BLESS AND PROTECT OUR TROOPS AND OUR BELOVED NATION!


TATTOO
(Click)

Must retire – an early call awaits me in the morning! No weekends at Castle MacNessa!

The Bugler, his grim visage replete with an evil sneer, already mounts the parapet.

"Do poor Tom some charity, whom the foul fiend vexes!"
(King Lear, Act III, Scene iv)



All Gave Some – Some Gave All!!!
(Click)

Good night, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America!

Godspeed our Troops around the Globe – especially those in harm’s way – by virtue of their service and sacrifice we continue to live in Freedom!

GOD SAVE ALL HERE!

Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[Fiji Hill]

My favorite Barry Sadler song is Ba Mu'o'i Ba (33)--a paean to "33" beer, a French brand brewed in South Vietnam under license. It was said that the brew contained formaldehyde, used to preserve it in Vietnam's steamy climate. Today,both the French and Vietnamese versions of "33" beer are available in this country, but you have to look pretty hard to find it.