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Author Bradley, Doug, 1947-

Title We gotta get out of this place : the soundtrack of the Vietnam War / Doug Bradley and Craig Werner.

Publication Info. Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, [2015]

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 Bloomfield, Prosser Library - Adult Department  781.6 BRA    Storage
Description xi, 256 pages ; 23 cm.
Series Culture, politics, and the Cold War
Culture, politics, and the Cold War.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents Introduction: The Vietnam veterans' national anthem -- "Goodbye my sweetheart, hello Vietnam" : the soundscape takes shape -- "Bad moon rising" : the soundtracks of LBJ's war -- "I-feel-like-I'm-fixin'-to-die" : protest, pot, black power, and the (psychedelic) sound of Nixon's war -- "Chain of fools" : radios, guitars, eight tracks (and silence in the field) -- "What's going on" : music and the long road home.
Summary For a Kentucky rifleman who spent his tour trudging through Vietnam's Central Highlands, it was Nancy Sinatra's ""These Boots Are Made for Walkin'."" For a ""tunnel rat"" who blew smoke into the Viet Cong's underground tunnels, it was Jimi Hendrix's ""Purple Haze."" For a black marine distraught over the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., it was Aretha Franklin's ""Chain of Fools."" And for countless other Vietnam vets, it was ""I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die,"" ""Who'll Stop the Rain,"" or the song that gives this book its title. In We Gotta Get Out of This Place , Doug Bradley and Craig Werner place popular music at the heart of the American experience in Vietnam. They explore how and why U.S. troops turned to music as a way of connecting to each other and the World back home and of coping with the complexities of the war they had been sent to fight. They also demonstrate that music was important for every group of Vietnam veterans -- black and white, Latino and Native American, men and women, officers and ""grunts"" -- whose personal reflections drive the book's narrative. Many of the voices are those of ordinary soldiers, airmen, seamen, and marines. But there are also ""solo"" pieces by veterans whose writings have shaped our understanding of the war -- Karl Marlantes, Alfredo Vea, Yusef Komunyakaa, Bill Ehrhart, Arthur Flowers -- as well as songwriters and performers whose music influenced soldiers' lives, including Eric Burdon, James Brown, Bruce Springsteen, Country Joe McDonald, and John Fogerty. Together their testimony taps into memories -- individual and cultural -- that capture a central if often overlooked component of the American war in Vietnam. -- Provided by publisher.
Subject Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Music and the war.
Popular music -- Social aspects -- History -- 20th century.
Popular music -- United States -- 1961-1970 -- History and criticism.
Popular music -- United States -- 1971-1980 -- History and criticism.
Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. (OCoLC)fst01411635
History. (OCoLC)fst01411628
Subject Vietnam War (1961-1975) (OCoLC)fst01431664
Music and war. (OCoLC)fst01030492
Popular music. (OCoLC)fst01071422
Popular music -- Social aspects. (OCoLC)fst01071460
United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155
Chronological Term 1900 - 1999
Subject Unterhaltungsmusik. (DE-588)4061916-3
Protestsong. (DE-588)4176005-0
Vietnamkrieg. (DE-588)4063516-8
United States. (DE-588)4078704-7
Added Author Werner, Craig Hansen, 1952-
ISBN 9781625341624 (pbk. ; alk. paper)
1625341628 (pbk. ; alk. paper)
9781625341976 (hardcover ; alk. paper)
1625341970 (hardcover ; alk. paper)
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