Pro-war songs
On the other hand, there were some pro-war songs that really did a good job. During the war, famous songs like “The Ballad of the Green Berets” by S.Sgt. Barry Sadler or Merle Haggard’s “Okie from Muskogee” which described the feeling of patriotic Americans quickly became well-known.
1. “The Ballad Of The Green Berets”
Written by Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler, this song is a patriotic song written in honor of James Gabriel, a Hawaiian Green Beret who was executed by the Viet Cong. On January 30, 1966, Sadler debuted it on television on the Ed Sullivan Show. And it immediately became a big hit, selling more than two-million copies in the first five weeks. The song even spent five weeks at No.1 in 1966, a time when British rock groups, like the Beatles and the Rolling Stone, dominated the U.S. charts.
2. “Okie from Muskogee”
“Okie from Muskogee” is one of the most famous hits of American country singer Merle Haggard. In an interview for the Boot, Haggard told that he wrote the song after became disheartened watching anti-war protests in which young kids bitched about the war and the soldiers who were dying. As a patriotic song, it describes conservative values of people from Middle America who didn’t smoke marijuana, take LSD, nor burn draft cards, but proudly supported the war and their country. The song later won praise from President Nixon who asked Haggard to perform it at the White House.
3. “Hello Vietnam”
Written by Tom T. Hall and recorded by Johnnie Wright, “Hello Vietnam” is a classic patriotic song which tapped into a wide range of feeling about the Vietnam War- dutifulness, patriotism, anti-communism, separation. With Wright’s wife, Kitty Wells, singing background, “Hello Vietnam” soon became a No.1 hit and spent twenty weeks on the U.S. Hot Country Singles chart. In 1987, the song was used as the opening theme in the famous film Full Metal Jacket.
4. “The Fightin’ Side Of Me”
Released in December 1969, “The Fightin’ Side Of Me” is another patriotic song recorded by Merle Haggard. Following its predecessor, “Okie from Muskogee”, “The Fightin’ Side of Me” cashed in on the conservative values of American working-class, who were frustrated with people, protesters in particular who derided the country. Released in January 1970, the song immediately gained in popularity. It even reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles and remained there for three weeks. At the same year, “The Fightin’ Side of Me” was nominated for Single of the Year by the Country Music Associations, however, it lost to “Okie from Muskogee”, another Merle’s song.