The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #17691 Message #4235631
Posted By: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
10-Feb-26 - 03:34 PM
Thread Name: What are the best Vietnam era songs?
Subject: RE: What are the best Vietnam era songs?
Try it with a four function calculator and a calendar to see how much one set of personal consumer preferences really matter to “history.”
There was more than one “Vietnam War” in Western pop culture. If one served in The Republic of Vietnam it's 1955-1975. “In all other cases...” that would be August, 1964 through May, 1975.
On the 'other' side of the so-called Cold War, protest songs were (are) a capital crime. So no surprise, a dearth of North Vietnamese, Soviet, Mainland Chinese, Cuban &c A&R. Not that it matters.
For the other side, one of the most jarring aspects of coming back to “The World” was how completely it chose to ignore the whole affair altogether. To wit:
1964-1975, Billboard Hot 100 Year End, top 3- 1964: I Want to Hold Your Hand; She Loves You; Hello; Dolly! 1965: Wooly Bully; I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch; (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction 1966: California Dreamin; 96 Tears; What Becomes of the Brokenhearted; 1967: To Sir With Love; The Letter; Ode to Billie Joe 1968: Hey Jude; Love is Blue; Honey 1969: Sugar, Sugar; Aquarius/Let the Sunshine; I Can't Get Next to You 1970: Bridge Over Troubled Water; (They Long to Be) Close to You; American Woman 1971: Joy to the World; Maggie May/Reason to Believe; It's Too Late/I Feel the Earth Move 1972: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face; Alone Again (Naturally); American Pie 1973: Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree; Bad, Bad Leroy Brown; Killing Me Softly with His Song 1974: The Way We Were; Seasons in the Sun; Love's Theme 1975: Love Will Keep Us Together; Rhinestone Cowboy; Philadelphia Freedom
Note: 1966: The Ballad of the Green Berets @#10 1970: War@#4