It’s not often a guitarist rocks up to the daily Last Post ceremony at the Australian War Memorial but today is no ordinary day; it is Vietnam Veterans’ Day and the 57th anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan. Singer/songwriter John Schumann, formerly from Aussie leftwing/folk band Redgum, will perform what he calls a hymn for Vietnam vets – I Was Only 19.
“You’ve got to play it with intensity and sincerity and full meaning every time you do it because, in an emotional sense, I’ve lost ownership of the song, it’s owned by the Vietnam veterans and their families,” Schumann says. “You have to pay it that respect.”
There is some irony to a musician singing lyrics with an anti-Vietnam War sentiment, inside a hallowed, national war memorial.
Schumann will be standing beside the Pool of Reflection as he sings the words, “And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can’t get to sleep? And why the Channel Seven chopper chills me to my feet?”
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder wasn’t a common phrase in 1983, when the song was released.
“Vietnam was on the horizon for me and I wasn’t fussed by the thought that I might go,” Schumann says. “It was only when I went to university (1971) and I got some sort of geo-political historical context and it was very clear to me that we had no business there. That’s my position today.”
To this day, Schumann doesn’t know why Vietnam veterans adopted the song as their own.
“While I was opposed to our participation in that conflict, I was always very supportive of our soldiers and I think that’s why I’ve been accepted,” he said.
“I’ve got lots and lots of veteran mates and they know that position that I came to in regard to that conflict which they respect … but what I wanted was Australian soldiers and all the other ancillary people who were in that conflict to come home safely.
Some of the song lyrics are etched in stone at the Vietnam Memorial on Anzac Parade.
“I just wrote, it, I wanted it to be good, I wanted it to do good things for the people about whom I wrote it, but I had absolutely no idea that it would be as influential and have the longevity it has had,” Schumann said.
“I didn’t realise how important the song was going to be. I reflected on it, I think the power of the song, and the fact it was adopted by the Vietnam Veterans in a way that [Cold Chisel song] Khe Sanh wasn’t, was the detail.”
“And I can still hear Frankie lying screaming in the jungle, ‘til the morphine came and killed the bloody row … God help me, I was only nineteen.”
To mark the 40th anniversary of the recording of the song, John (who now plays in the band John Schumann and the Vagabond Crew) has collaborated with folk band The Waifs to re-record I Was Only 19. It will be released on 6 September.
The Last Post Ceremony is at 4.45pm today at the Australian War Memorial.
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