Lyr Req: Unknown Soldier (Peggy Seeger)

Subject: Lyr Req: 'Unknown Soldier' (Peggy Seeger)
From: oldhippie
Date: 09 Nov 06 - 08:42 PM

Lyrics please for song as sung by Peggy Seeger & Tark Warshaw.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Unknown Soldier' (Peggy Seeger)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Nov 06 - 09:27 PM

Some lyrics and history here: http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiUNKNOWNS.html - or, exactly the same here at Mudcat, in the DT lyrics.

Specifically-
AFC 1980/001:SR86: One five-inch tape containing "The Unknown Soldier," based on reports of African-American soldiers who defected to North Vietnam, sung with banjo and guitar by Peggy Seeger and Tark Warshaw. (four minutes, RXB 0047)"
THis listing from http://www.loc.gov/folklife/guides/VietnamWar.html.
This and similar references might lead you to the song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Unknown Soldier' (Peggy Seeger)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 11 Nov 06 - 01:54 PM

I suspect "Tark Warshaw" was a mistake for "Jack Warshaw."

The Sing Out! Song Index lists a song called THE BALLAD OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER, by "Jack Warshaw / Traditional." It was published in Sing Out!, volume 20, number 1, page 26.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unknown Soldier ^^^
From: oldhippie
Date: 11 Nov 06 - 03:33 PM

Good clue, found it with a little research!!!!! Here are the lyrics and notes.



Ballad of the Unknown Soldier

Come and Listen to a story I will tell
Of a young GI you will remember well.
He died in Vietnam in the Mekong Delta land,
He had sandals on his feet and a rifle in his hand.

Chorus:

I wonder what was his name?
I wonder from which town he came?
I wonder if his children understood the reason why
Of the way he had to fight and the way he had to die.

They say that December '65
Was the last time he was ever seen alive.
It was U.S. Army lies that caused him to decide
To leave his old top sergeant and fight on the other side.

Was he lonesome for his homeland far away?
Fighting with his new companions night and day?
In the base and jungle camps they tell about a man
Sharing hardships with his comrades fighting on the other side.

It was in the month of April '68,
In the Delta land he met a soldier's fate.
He fought to his last breath and he died a hero's death,
And he wore the black pajamas of the People's NLF.

Well it's now that poor soldier's dead and gone.
His comrades and his friends are fighting on.
And when the people win, of their heroes they will sing,
And his name will be remembered with the name of Ho Chi Minh.


The song is called "The Ballad of the Unknown Soldier." I
don't know whether anyone other than Barbara Dane sang it in the U.S.
back in those days. Barbara recorded it on Paredon's "What Now People?"
Vol. 1. some time in the early seventies. (She first got the song from
Peggy Seeger who sent it to her in 1969.) The author, Rod Shearman, is
English.^^^

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unknown Soldier (Peggy Seeger)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 11 Nov 06 - 06:45 PM

Looks like your lyrics came from BALLAD OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER in the Digital Tradition database, maybe by way of someone else's copy. Our own copy has a bit more information.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unknown Soldier (Peggy Seeger)
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Nov 06 - 04:34 AM

'Tis Jack Warshaw
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unknown Soldier (Peggy Seeger)
From: Dave Sutherland
Date: 13 Nov 06 - 03:26 PM

It was also published in New City Songster - Vol4 June 1970 crediting Jack Warshaw and Rod Shearman