This is an incredibly beautiful song, and these lyrics are so full of empathy, wisdom, and humanity. Thanks jrhmasters and schultzee for your insights on the details that inspired it. I was wondering how this young artist could have had such a personal connection to the Vietnam War. He sounds like Bruce Springsteen or Woody Guthrie, with all of their social and political awareness, even though he is a generation removed from Vietnam. It is profound the way he describes the family divisions opened up by that war - years later it would tear up my stepmother's family over the draft. But the soldier mourned here was a volunteer, likely an early casualty. Kennedy's promise to pay any price for liberty was indeed costly. It ended badly, discredited, in Vietnam. But Charlie offered his service - and his great sacrifice - in earnest. The song makes my heart swell; there is no condemnation, only understanding for all sides. It makes the loss palpable, and it is full of love and big-hearted patriotism.
This is an incredibly beautiful song, and these lyrics are so full of empathy, wisdom, and humanity. Thanks jrhmasters and schultzee for your insights on the details that inspired it. I was wondering how this young artist could have had such a personal connection to the Vietnam War. He sounds like Bruce Springsteen or Woody Guthrie, with all of their social and political awareness, even though he is a generation removed from Vietnam. It is profound the way he describes the family divisions opened up by that war - years later it would tear up my stepmother's family over the draft. But the soldier mourned here was a volunteer, likely an early casualty. Kennedy's promise to pay any price for liberty was indeed costly. It ended badly, discredited, in Vietnam. But Charlie offered his service - and his great sacrifice - in earnest. The song makes my heart swell; there is no condemnation, only understanding for all sides. It makes the loss palpable, and it is full of love and big-hearted patriotism.