Soul music has a reputation for making people feel things. When conflicts like the Vietnam War are involved, it doesn’t take much to get the tears flowing. Here are a few soul songs that were inspired by the events in Vietnam, which took place from 1955 to 1975.
“I Believe I’m Gonna Make It” by Joe Tex
Released by Southern soul singer Joe Tex, “I Believe I’m Gonna Make It” is narrated by a soldier who’s writing to his baby back home. He tells her that he’ll be home before she can say “Jackie Robinson.” He also talks about marriage and fighting off enemies.
“I wished a thousand times / That we had gotten married / Before I left home for Vietnam / But then when I see so many of my buddies / Gettin’ shot down all around me / Makes me kinda glad that we waited / Because I don’t wanna leave you / At home being a widow, no.”
“What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye
Before his What’s Going On album, Marvin Gaye was known by many for the romantic songs in his catalog. He gained popularity for hits like “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)”. However, from the first few lines of “What’s Going On”, it’s clear that the tone of his music has changed. He sings, “Brother, brother, brother / There’s far too many of you dying,” and says “war is not the answer.” Gaye addresses several conflicts in What’s Going On, but according to Jackson Browne, the title track was definitely an anti-war song.
“No one was expecting an anti-war song from him,” Browne told Rolling Stone in 2008. “But it was a moment in time when people were willing to hear it from anybody, if it was heartfelt. And who better than the person who has talked to you about love and desire?”
“Bring the Boys Home” by Freda Payne
In “Bring The Boys Home,” Freda Payne expresses a sentiment about the Vietnam War that many Americans felt at the time. Even though the song ended up becoming Payne’s second gold record, according to Songfacts, “Bring The Boys Home” ended up being banned by the US Command from the American Forces Network, which thought the song would “give aid and comfort to the enemy.”
Photo by Matthew Lewis/The Washington Post via Getty Images
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