Cold Chisel - Khe Sanh (1978)

Music from Australia and New Zealand in the year 1978:

Cold Chisel's promo-video for the classic 'Khe Sahn' (May, 1978), taken from the 1978 album 'Cold Chisel'.

Note: After five years of playing pubs, Cold Chisel released their debut single 'Khe Sanh' in June of 1978. It was banned by Australian radio due to the sexual implication line '... and their legs were often open, but their minds were always closed'. The all-mighty Countdown also made issue of the line; thus 'Khe Sanh' never being played on the program. Ironically, the song has grown to become one of Australia's most played songs - on juke boxes, by cover bands and on radio. It's none the less a classic.

Here are the lyrics:

I left my heart to the sappers 'round Khe Sanh
And I sold my soul with my cigarettes, to a black market man
I've had to Vietnam cold turkey, from the ocean to the silver city
And it's only other vets could understa-and
'Bout the long forgotten dockside guarantees
How there were no V-day heroes in nineteen seventy-three
How we sailed into Sydney Harbour, I saw an old friend but I couldn't kiss her
And she was lined, and I was home to the lucky land

She was like so many more from that time on
Their lives were all so empty, until they'd found there chosen one
And their legs were often open but their minds were always closed
And their hearts were held in fast suburban chains

And the legal pads were yellow, hours long paypackets lean
And the telex writers clattered where the gunships once had been
The carparks made me jumpy and I never stopped the dreams
Or the growing need for speed and novacaine

So I worked across the country from end to end
I tried to find a place to settle down, where my mixed up life could mend
I held a job on an oil-rig, a-flyin' choppers when I could
But the nightlife nearly drove me round the bend

And I've travelled round the world from year to year-ear-ear
And each one found me aimless, one more year the worse for wear
And I've been back to South East Asia, you know the answer sure ain't there
But I'm driftin' north to check things out agai-ai-ain

Well the last plane out of Sydney's almost go-one
And only seven flyin' hours, till I'll be landin' in Hong Kong
And there ain't nothin' like the kisses from a jaded Chinese princess
I'm gonna hit some Hong Kong mattress all night lo-ong

Well the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone.

Band Origin: Adelaide, SA, Australia
Band Location: Sydney, NSW, Australia
Track: Khe Sanh
Album: Cold Chisel
Composed By: Don Walker
Produced By: Peter Walker
Label: WEA (Australia) -- Elektra (United States)
Chart Position: # 43 (Australia)
Release Date: May, 1978
Links:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Chisel
- www.coldchisel.com/
- www.last.fm/music/Cold+Chisel

Line-up:

Jimmy Barnes - Lead Vocals
[ Orange (1973) -- Cold Chisel (1973-1984) - solo (1984-present) ]

Ian Moss - Guitar
[ Orange (1973) -- Cold Chisel (1973-1984) -- solo (1989-present) ]

Don Walker - Piano
[ Orange (1973) -- Cold Chisel (1973-1984) -- Catfish (1989-1991) -- Tex, Don & Charlie (1993-2005) -- solo (1981-present) ]

Steve Prestwich -- Drums
[ Orange (1973) -- Cold Chisel (1973-1984) -- Little River Band (1984-1985) ]

Phil Small - Bass
[Planet (1971) -- Palladium (1972) -- Orange (1973) -- Cold Chisel (1973-1984) -- Pound (1985) -- The Earls of Duke (1985--1988) -- Hot Ice (1986) -- The Outsiders (1989) -- Billy Thorpe Band (2005) ]

-------------------------------------------------
NZOZ NZOZ1978 1978 Australia Late Seventies 1970's 1970s 70's 70s

Extended Tags: Don Walker, Jimmy Barnes, Ian Moss

Musical Terms: Classic, Singer/Songwriter, Pub, Rock, Aussie, Old Australian Band

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Cold
• Chisel
• 1978
• Australia
• Late
• Seventies

[Kermitron]

This song feels incomplete without a hundred drunk people singing along with it.

[nzoz1978]

@Kermitron ha ha

[letsgetiton84]

if you pay closer attention to they lyrics you will find that it is not about a man that can no longer stand to be in Australia but is about a Vietnam veteran that returns to Australia and cannot find his place in society or the world. He then travels around the world looking for anwsers aimlessly and at the end of the song he is leaving Australia to keep aimlessly looking for answers and is heading to hong kong for sex. It is by far more about the effect the Vietnam war had on vets.

[ebay4dave]

As someone who grew up in the 70s i can tell you i think the songs khe sanh , i was only 19 and others of the time did more for the awareness of what the troops went through than anything politicians or any protesters could come up with . The songs said so much with so little and at times brought large sections of people to tears. Im glad i was a kid at the time , because the 6 oclock news was a horror show.

[fetzermills2]

@letsgetiton84 I'm American, middle-east veteran, enlisted when I was 17. I'm getting old, but I'll never grow up and no place will ever be home. I can't stop listening to this song and Redgum's "I Was Only 19".

[chelseafcrox]

@letsgetiton84 Wow, people thought it was about not liking Australia?! I always thought it was about 'Nam!

[johnnodickens101]

i love this song brings back good ol memories of me and me mates in punchy , on the vb good times singin along to the likes of barnsey , accadacca and peter garret...i love australia , love it or fuckin leave it people ,.....-TheJohnno

[SuperNoodleCat]

@jazza141328

most bands in that day preformed on stage as their music video but it wasnt live.

[Atomic45Wedgie]

@letsgetiton84 beautiful expalnation, it's perfect!

[jazza141328]

is this live i cant tell



[ShazzaAU92]

@Kermitron *several thousand drunk people.

[haydosholden1]

@letsgetiton84 fucking spot on.



[ycgffs]

The REAL Australian National Anthem!