Vietnam by Jimmy Cliff song Analysis

The use of words in this song is very complex or deep. It is fairly straight forward and I liked how it told kind of like a story. At the beginning of the song he gets a letter from his friend saying “'tell all my friends that I'll be coming home soon” and at the end of the next verse “but Mistress Brown your son is dead!' and it came from: Vietnam”. It doesn’t really attack the war but it is definitely a anti-war song. It is using a story that you can connect to and then shows that someone is dead. “Somebody please stop that war now!” it is against that we are in war and doesn’t want us losing our men in Vietnam but is still supporting our soldiers. There isn’t anything in the song that specifically states that it is against the foreign policy of the time. However I believe the purpose of the song is against Vietnam and why we were there, so in that case it is against the Domino Theory and why we were fighting. As well as this song being against the war, it also displays how the war can affect the individual; it talks about his friend that died and the telegram that was written to his mother. As well as affecting the individual it can also display why war affects society because so many people were losing loved ones that it was affecting all of society. With this in mind I agree very strongly with the message of this song. I think that we should have pulled out of Vietnam a lot earlier and stopped the war that was causing so many deaths.

Hey
Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam

Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam.
Yesterday I got a letter
from my friend
fighting in Vietnam

and this is what he had to say:
'tell all my friends
that I'll be coming home soon

my time 'll be up some time in june.
Don't forget' he said
'to tell
my sweet Mary

her golden lips as sweet as cherries'.
And it came from:
Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam

Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam!

It was just the next day
his mother got a Telegram

it was addressed from Vietnam.
Now mistress Brown she lives in the U.S.A
and this is
what she wrote and said:
'Don't be alarmed'
she told me the telegram said

'but mistress Brown
your son is dead!'
and it came from:
Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam

Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam!

Somebody please stop that war now!
Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam

Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam!