Songfacts®:

• Kris Kristofferson wrote this spoken-word song in 1965 when America started sending combat troops to Vietnam. He was a captain in the Army, which he joined in 1960, stationed in Germany. On leave, he saw a group of anti-war demonstrators that irked him because he thought the US was doing the noble thing by intervening in Vietnam in an effort to stop the spread of communism. In the song, he confronts the protesters and makes the point that they are emboldening the enemy when they should be supporting the troops. It was the prevailing sentiment at the start of the war, but years later, Kristofferson and many others changed their position when it became a quagmire.
  
  In the documentary Kris Kristofferson: His life And Work, he explained why he supported the soldiers fighting the war. "They believed in standing up for the underdog," he said. "They believed, at the time, that Vietnam was an underdog being bullied by big communist China. That's what we were told when we were in the Army. Some of the best people I know are people who volunteered for Vietnam. I was seeing the world from the perspective of a soldier at that time."
  
  Kristofferson, who left the Army later in 1965 and never served in Vietnam, later became very left-leaning in his political views and outspoken against American military incursion overseas.
• This is one of the first songs Kris Kristofferson wrote. In 1965 is was recorded by Jack Sanders and by Dave Dudley. Dudley's version was a minor hit, reaching #127 in America in April 1966, as more troops were entering Vietnam. Dudley was a country singer best known for his 1963 song "Six Days On The Road," which went to #32 in 1963.
  
  Kristofferson kept writing songs but couldn't find many takers until 1969, when Ray Stevens recorded "Sunday Morning Coming Down," taking it to #81. Johnny Cash then recorded the song and took it to #1 on the Country chart, igniting Kristofferson's career as a songwriter. He released his first album, Kristofferson, in 1970, but never recorded his own version of "Vietnam Blues."