Khe Sanh (song)

Infobox Single
Name = Khe Sanh


Artist = Cold Chisel
from Album = Cold Chisel
Released = May 1978
Format = 7" vinyl
Recorded = 1978
Genre = pub rock
Length = 4:09
Label = WEA
Writer = Don Walker
Producer = Peter Walker
Chart position = * #48 (Australia)
Reviews =
Last single =
This single = "Khe Sanh"
(1978)
Next single = "Goodbye (Astrid Goodbye)"
(1978)

"Khe Sanh" is an Australian pub rock song, released as a 45 rpm single in May 1978, and named after the Battle of Khe Sanh (1968) during the Vietnam War. The song, performed by Cold Chisel, having been written by pianist Don Walker and featuring the vocals of Jimmy Barnes, is about a bitter and disillusioned Australian Vietnam veteran. According to Toby Creswell's liner notes for the band's 1991 compilation album "Chisel", the song is also a story of restless youth.

Lyrics

The mood of the song is typified by its first verse:

: "I left my heart to the sappers 'round Khe Sanh": "And my soul was sold with my cigarettes to the black market man": "I've had the Vietnam cold turkey": "From the ocean to the Silver City": "And it's only other vets could understand"

The line "Well the last "plane" out of Sydney's almost gone" is often misquoted as "the last "train". In a 2006 interview, Jimmy Barnes commented on this, saying: "You can't get a train to Vietnam" ("The Glasshouse", ABC-TV, 22 November 2006).

Popularity

"Khe Sanh" is one of the most popular songs ever recorded by an Australian act and one generally seen as a resonant symbol of Australian culture. The record reached number four in the band's home town of Adelaide but peaked on the national sales charts at number 43. In August that same year, censors gave it an A Classification, meaning that it was "not suitable for airplay", due to sex and drug references (the line "their legs were often open, but their minds were always closed" was seen as particularly offensive [cite book|last=McGrath|first=Noel|title=Noel McGrath's Australian Encyclopaedia of Rock & Pop|origyear=1978|edition=Revised edition|year=1984|publisher=Rigby|location=Adelaide|isbn=0727019090] ). A single station in Adelaide defied this censorship, and was the instigator of the song's popularity. In 2001, members of APRA, the Australasian music industry's peak body, put "Khe Sanh" at number eight in a poll of the all-time best Australian songs. [ [http://www.apra.com.au/awards/music/2001_topten.asp APRA Awards - Music Awards ] ] . It has been covered many times, including by John Schumann in 2008. Schumann wrote "I was only 19", the other iconic song about the Australian experience of the Vietnam war. This version changed the the location from "Khe Sanh" to "Long Tan", the site of a famous engagement involving Australians.

Versions

Two versions of the song were released. The first featured on the band's 1978 debut self-titled album. A second version was included on the international version of the 1980 album "East". The newer version overlaid a new keyboard track over Ian Moss's slide guitar break and featured a slightly different vocal reading from Barnes. This second version was also the one featured on the original release of the "Chisel" album and has since become perhaps the better known rendition.

Other details

The Battle of Khe Sanh was fought between US Marines and the North Vietnamese Army. The only Australian personnel to be directly involved in the siege were the crews of Canberra bombers operated by 2 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, who flew close air support missions in the area.

"Sanh" is often misspelled (even, at times, on official album covers and sleeve notes) as "Sahn".

During the Australian cricket team's tour of the Caribbean in 1995, the players accorded "Khe Sanh" the status of an unofficial team song and sang it frequently.

A notable cover of the song is Australian singer/songwriter Paul Kelly's rendering of the song as a bluegrass/country number, featuring a stripped down musical style with largely spoken lyrics.

Khe Sanh has also been mentioned in another frequently-misinterpreted song. Bruce Springsteen's 1984 hit "Born in the USA" includes the sentence: "Had a brother at Khe Sanh". Springsteen pronounces it to rhyme with "gone" rather than with "man", as the Cold Chisel version does.

The line in the song that mentions the Silver City is a reference to Broken Hill, a city in far-western New South Wales.

Recording credits

* Jimmy Barnes - vocals
* Ian Moss - guitar
* Don Walker - organ
* Steve Prestwich - drums
* Phil Small - bass
* Peter Walker - acoustic guitar
* Dave Blight - harmonica

See also

* I Was Only Nineteen
* List of songs about the Vietnam War

References

External links

* [http://www.coldchisel.com.au/l1_khesahn.html "Khe Sanh" lyrics]