History Channel succinctly summarizes the political situation at home during President Nixon’s first year in office:
“At a [December 8, 1969] news conference, President Richard Nixon says that the Vietnam War is coming to a ‘conclusion as a result of the plan that we have instituted.’ Nixon had announced at a conference in Midway in June that the United States would be following a new program he termed ‘Vietnamization’ …
Nixon’s pronouncements that the war was ending proved premature. In April 1970, he expanded the war by ordering U.S. and South Vietnamese troops to attack communist sanctuaries in Cambodia. The resulting outcry across the United States led to a number of antiwar demonstrations—it was at one of these demonstrations that the National Guard shot four protesters at Kent State.”
Lost in all the hubbub over Neil Young’s “Ohio” — recorded May 21, 1970 by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and rush-released June, 1970 — was Skeeter Davis‘s surprisingly outspoken recording, “When You Gonna Bring Our Soldiers Home“:
“When You Gonna Bring Our Soldiers Home”
Skeeter Davis (1970)
Recorded (before “Ohio”) January 28, 1970, “When You Gonna Bring Our Soldiers Home” would serve as the B-side to “We Need a Lot More Jesus,” a single predicted to reach the Top 20 Country chart in the July 4, 1970 edition of Billboard (alas, it would peak at #69).
Davis would not only write the music (with its martial drumbeat, nice effect) but also its rather pointed lyric, about which Joseph A. Fry would write in The American South and the Vietnam War: Belligerence, Protest, and Agony in Dixie:
“In 1970, Skeeter Davis aimed ‘When You Gonna Bring Our Soldiers Home’ directly at President Nixon. Voicing a woman’s perspective, Davis declared, ‘Every mother has to worry about the son she loves, And every sweetheart has to worry, too.’ Although Nixon did not think she should ‘protest’ or ‘question’ his policies, ‘I think I’ve got a right ’cause I just got words tonight, The Man I love was killed there yesterday, When you gonna bring our soldiers home?'”
Examining the song in a broader social context, James N. Gregory made the following observation in The Southern Diaspora: How the Great Migrations of Black and White Southerners Transformed America:
“Another stream struck back at antiwar protests and other challenges to rock-ribbed values. When Tom T. Hall recorded ‘Mama, Tell Them What We’re Fighting For,’ Ernest Tubb answered with ‘It’s for God, Country and You Mom,’ then followed with two others: ‘It’s America’ and ‘Love It or Leave It.’ Protesters were also the target in Johnny Sea’s ‘Day of Decision,’ Bobby Bare’s ‘God Bless America Again,’ Stonewall Jackson’s ‘The Minutemen are Turning in Their Graves,’ Bill Anderson’s ‘Where Have All the Heroes Gone,’ and Terry Nelson’s ‘Battle Hymn of Lt. Calley.’ Not until 1970 was there any sort of break in ‘country music’s patriotic front.’ That year, Johnny Cash asked carefully ‘What is Truth,’ but even then an actual protest song ‘When You Gonna Bring Our Soldiers Home’ by Skeeter Davis failed to make country station playlists.”
“When You Gonna Bring Our Soldiers Home” was included on It’s Hard to Be a Woman, an album reviewed in Billboard’s September 12, 1970 edition:
“With some of her strongest efforts since ‘My Coloring Book‘ days, Skeeter Davis has a definite winner in this album. Songs include her current single hit of ‘It’s Hard to Be a Woman‘ and the macabre ‘Someone Up There Still Loves Me‘ which could gain airplay at night; plus ‘Down from Dover,’ another strong tune that could be programmed late at night. ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water‘ is great any time.”
Vocals: Skeeter Davis & George Hamilton IV
Guitar: Norman Blake, Chip Young & Jimmy Capps
Steel Guitar: Bobby Thompson & Weldon Myrick
Bass: Henry Strzelecki
Drums: Jerry Carrigan
Fiddle: Buddy Spicher
Piano: Jerry Smith
