I’m
a Vietnam vet and I’m working with Craig Werner, a UW-Madison professor
of Afro-American Studies,
on a book about popular (mainly
rock and roll) music that resonated with Vietnam soldiers and vets
during,
and after, their tour of duty in Vietnam.
Craig, who’s written A Change Is Gonna Come and Higher Ground,
I am convinced that music is where memory lives, . . . and that songs
like
|
“We
Gotta Get Out of This Place," "Ballad of the Green Berets," "The Letter," |
"Fortunate
Son," “Chain of Fools,” “Born in the USA” |
have
very special meaning for Vietnam vets. |
|
We
are especially interested in hearing from a broad range of Vietnam Vets
about the music that most meaningfully spoke to them.
These personal reflections, and the songs that prompted them, can provide
special insight and meaning
to a solder’s experience that has yet to be chronicled.
With respect and gratitude,
Doug Bradley
Former Spec. 5
USARV Headquarters, Long Binh
November 1970-November 1971
bradley@ocr.wisc.edu
 |
We
Gotta Get Out of This Place: Music and the Vietnam Experience
Doug Bradley & Craig Werner
We Gotta Get Out of This Place tells the story of the Vietnam
War
through the music-based memories of those who served.
Authors Doug Bradley, who was in the U. S. Army in Vietnam in 1970 and
1971,
and Craig Werner, a prize-winning music writer and member of the Nominating
Committee of the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, weave a tapestry of voices set against the
cacophony of the popular music
of the 1960s and 1970s.
From “Chain of Fools and “Fortunate Son”
to “Purple Haze” and “We Gotta Get out
of This Place,”
their work shows how soldiers used music to form bonds, express their
feelings,
and hold on to the humanity the world was trying to take away.