Vietnam by Jimmy Cliff

Album: Jimmy Cliff (1969)

Charted: 46

License This Song

lyrics

artistfacts

Songfacts®:

Cliff delivered this anti-war song in the form of a letter the narrator has received from a friend fighting in Vietnam. He told Mojo magazine July 2012 that it was inspired by the experiences of a friend of his: "I felt I could make a change through music," Cliff said, "maybe that stems back to church and Sam Cooke, but I was socially conscious and sensitive to things going in that war. A friend I went to school with, he was a great artist, he went to live with his family in America, he got drafted, went to Vietnam, and it blew his mind. He came back, he didn't recognise me, it was as if he was dead."
Bob Dylan once lauded this as "the best protest song ever written."
According to Paul Simon, his 1972 hit single "Mother and Child Reunion" was inspired by this song.
The song was part inspired by a close friend of Cliff's. They went to school in Somerton, Jamaica, together, but because his family lived in the States, he migrated there and got drafted for Vietnam. Cliff recalled to Uncut magazine:

"When he came back, he didn't know me. We met up again in Somerton where they have aeroplanes that fly low to spray the banana trees, and I remember he started running for cover. He lost his mind, and it was sad for me. A great person. So that was part of it, I had something personal to write about. And also I felt the war was wrong."

Comments: 2

Paul Vermehren from OkinawaSteve in UK.
You have failed to understand the sentiment of the song.
It's not about geopolitical history. It's about conscripts being sent to fight a war they may or may not believe in, and return home I'm a body bag. Or did up with PTSD.
Steve from Uk Like jimmy Cliff but these lyrics are reductive nonsense, North Vietnams war of aggression against South Vietnam was unjust not the war to defend it. The US was part of SEATO the Asia Pacific defense pact that included Australia, and south Korea amongst others, Hanoi's government was an evil communist regime that attacked neighbouring countries and tried to present it as a revolution which it was not, 85%of communist soldiers were North Vietnam National army add to that 300,000 Chinese soldiers hardly an internal conflict in south Vietnam, what were Chinese and NVA soldiers doing in the republic of South Vietnam? Most US soldiers were not conscripted but were regular army and the battles were convincingly won Hanoi was militarily defeated and forced to terms in 1973 by the Paris accords like North Korea had been 20 years earlier. That treaty was then undermined and south Vietnam defunded and the south fell to a new invasion years after the US and its allies had ceased armed Involvement, communists in asia have murdered tens of millions of people in Cambodia Laos Vietnam and China and were and are fascists. So why oh why time and again do some artists and musicians take the wrong side where is the morality and justice they pontificate about in there opposition to the correct side or support for the wrong side this has taken the form of agit propaganda since 1917 and actually cheapens art by not being honest and reducing complex issues to cheap propaganda I thought artists had a duty to tell the whole truth.

see more comments

More Songfacts:

Me And Julio Down By The SchoolyardPaul Simon

Mickey Mantle and John Madden both appear in the video for "Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard" by Paul Simon. Biz Markie and Big Daddy Kane do a rap intro.

Cake By The OceanDNCE

The song title "Cake By The Ocean" originated from DNCE's Swedish producers using the wrong name for the drink "Sex on the Beach."

The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)Betty Everett

After Cher revived "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)" in 1990, Salt-N-Pepa released "Shoop" and Whitney Houston had a #1 hit with "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)."

GypsyFleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac's "Gypsy" is about Stevie Nicks' best friend, who died of leukemia.

She BangsRicky Martin

The Ricky Martin song "She Bangs" found new life when William Hung performed it so horribly on a 2004 episode of American Idol that it went viral.

MMMbopHanson

Hanson's megahit "MMMbop," released when they were teenagers, is surprisingly profound. Zac Hanson told Songfacts it "represents a frame of time or the futility of life."