Uploaded by musicinhistory on Jan 23, 2009
Australian folk-pop group Redgum's number one hit from 1983, I Was Only Nineteen, recalls some of the experiences and traumatic memories of regular soldiers who served in the Vietnam conflict. Its writer, John Schumann, was a teacher rather than a veteran, however he drew heavily on the stories and painful reminiscences of his brother-in-law, a veteran of the battle at Long Tan. The song is sub-titled 'A Walk in the Light Green', referring to the coloured areas on tactical maps that were supposedly (but not always) safe for patrols.
Amongst the references in the song are Australian bases at Vung Tau and Nui Dat, training establishments at Shoalwater, Canungra and Puckapunyal, the iconic 'slouch hat' and VB, and the moon landing ("Frankie kicked a mine the day that mankind kicked the moon"). The song has also been covered by John Williamson and hip-hop group The Herd.
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All Comments (20)
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james must be some queer pommy
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AUSSIE'S SUCK big fat donkey balls!!!!
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@so1ange Ironic isn't it? Telling Aussie kids to learn to spell and yet you made an extremely simple, and obvious, spelling mistake. "Their" not "they're". They're is a conjunction of "they are". Their is used to indicate possession.
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I agree wigth The Tydo76, This is a very moving account oif the war. Sadly today with Afganistan so fitting our Very Brave young men still giving their lives for their Country Gd Bless them and keep them safe
Maggiemai26
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its a shame im the 1st 1 in 8months to comment on this, with the rest of a small few, i think all true aussies should know and cry at the sound of this song. god bless all armed forces, for what you do and have done for me, my wife, kids and the assholes that dont say or know what you have and going to go though for us.
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I am showing this to my daughters aged 6 and 8. I thinks its very important for the younger generations to see these TRUE images of the people that went away to fight for the freedom we have in australia today. This makes me cry every time. My great grandpa was one of these men and was lucky enough to come home but he lost many of his comrades :'(
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@so1ange lol late reply much :)
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@Michael2987 'i' before 'e' except after 'c' and except for weird and their!
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@Michael2987 Yes well that's a major part of my point, "we" should never have been there in the first place
31 videos
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Hard not to get choked up with this one.
The disliker (1 at this time) is a lowly mangy maggot.
KG84C 1 year ago 9
@shmuk87 . I 'reckon' every Aussie kid should learn how to spell, and if not 'they're
teachers should be punished', our parents paid for this.
so1ange 1 year ago 5