437. I Was Only Nineteen (John Schumann)

This is the last video in my series of songs about the Vietnam War.

Also known as "Only Nineteen" or "A Walk in the Light Green" this song is about the experience of soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War, from their training in Australia,through the horrors of jungle combat to the final return home to face disillusionment, psychological wounds and the effects of Agent Orange.

Released as a single in 1983, and also included on the live album "Caught in the Act", this was the biggest hit for the Australian folk group, Redgum. A number one hit, it remained in the Australian top forty for four months, and is considered one of the thirty best Australian songs of all time.

Band member, John Schumann, based the song on the experience of Vietnam veterans he had talked to, particularly his brother-in-law, Mick Storen.

Royalties for the song go to the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia.

The following glossary is based on information from Wikipedia:

* ANZAC: Australia and New Zealand Army Corps.

* Canungra: Jungle warfare training centre in Queensland's Gold Coast hinterland.

* Channel 7: An Australian commercial television network.

* Chinook: A military helicopter.

* Contact!: The call made by soldiers upon encounter with enemy to the immediate front (Contact Front) or rear (Contact Rear) of the line of march.

* Dusted off: Evacuated by helicopter ambulance.

* Greens: Jungle Green, the field uniform worn by the Australian Army between the early 1960s and 1989.

* Light green: parts on a map showing supposedly safer areas to patrol as the foliage was less dense - but, in fact, more likely to be mined.

* Nui Dat: Village in Ba Ria province in South Vietnam, which was the main base of Australian Task Force 1 from 1965 to 1972.

* Puckapunyal: Army recruit training centre in Victoria.

* Shoalwater: Military exercise area in Queensland.

* Sixth Battalion: Australian army battalion 6RAR, whose D Company had been involved in the Battle of Long Tan three years earlier.

* Slouch hat: Australian soldiers' parade head-dress.

* SLR:Self Loading (semi-automatic) Rifle issued to Australian soldiers during the Vietnam War.

* Townsville: City in Queensland.

* VB: Victoria Bitter, Australia's best beer.

* Vung Tau: Coastal city in South Vietnam which Australia's main logistic base and a rest area for troops based at Nui Dat.

You can see a playlist of my Australian songs here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0DE11C284435E7A2

For lyrics and chords, see my website: http://www.raymondcrooke.com

Category:

Music

Tags:

• folk
• song
• war
• protest
• antiwar
• soldier
• veteran
• army
• vietnam
• iraq
• walk
• light
• green
• redgum
• vb
• australia
• 1983

[stephen1231000]

YOUR A TRUE AUSTRALIAN!!!!!!!!!!!

[raymondcrooke]

@stephen1231000 Thanks, mate!

[NotesCollector]

Nice,5 thumbs up

[raymondcrooke]

Thank you.

[MrSTUD300]

nice man. try playin the intro like A C G D

[raymondcrooke]

Thanks for your advice.

[whizzywhizzer]

mate this is awesome, like sure it's different to the original which is ace but you bring a fresh story telling to it, like I beleive what you're saying & it gives me shivers up the spine!! That tells me when something is great. Mate I give this 10/10 & it's in my fav's for future reference.

[alpha153]

Another song for Saturday

LEST WE FORGET

[XXXROVERXXX]

@whizzywhizzer i feel the shiver, as he says "he was going home in june"

[raymondcrooke]

Thanks. The lyrics and chords of all my songs are on my website, which is linked in the information box on the right. IThis one is under "Australian Songs" - "Modern Australia".

The right hand is just a kind of strum that comes naturally to me. Hard to describe, but I do it on a lot of my songs.

Good luck learning the song.

[DrGoalie11]

Awesome performance. It's good to see that people are still covering this song. It's one of my favorites. I particularly like the Herd's new rendition of it.

I'm just trying to figure out how you're playing the acoustic version. I can see you're playing a G, A, and something else. Also, what are you doing with your right hand? I'm a rather new guitar player, and I'd like to try and learn this.

[raymondcrooke]

Thanks. It's nice to hear from people who like my interpretation.