Vietnam War Song Project

The Vietnam War Song Project (VWSP) is an archive and interpretive examination of over 5000 Vietnam War songs identified.[1] The project is currently hosted on the online collaborative database Rate Your Music, with components on YouTube, Twitter, and at the University of Maryland.[2][3][4] It was founded in 2007 by its current editor, Dr. Justin Brummer, a historian with a PhD in contemporary Anglo-American relations.[5][6] The project analyses the lyrics, and collects data on the genre, location, ethnicity, nationality, language, and time period of the recordings.[7][8] [9]It also involves the preservation of the original physical vinyl records. Additional items collected include cassette tapes, CDs, MP3s, record label scans, and sheet music.

Vietnam War Song Project (VWSP)
Mission statement"This project is an interpretive examination of over 5,000 Vietnam War songs identified, revealing how the war's significance is represented through music"
Type of projectFree, open history, online, and physical archive
LocationAustin, Texas, U.S.
FounderJustin Brummer
Established2007 (2007)
Websiterateyourmusic.com/list/JBrummer/vietnam-war-song-project/

Part of the project includes a discography, Vietnam War Songs: An incomplete discography, which has over 6000 titles, both unique songs and cover songs, a collaboration between Hugo Keesing, Wouter Keesing, C.L. Yarbrough, and Justin Brummer at the University of Maryland Libraries.[10] Dr. Hugo Keesing, adjunct professor of American Studies at the University of Maryland, and the producer of the 13 CD box-set compilation Next Stop Is Vietnam is also a major contributor of songs and record scans.[11][12][13]

The project has categorised songs into a variety of themes, from anti-war / protest / peace songs, to patriotic / pro-government / anti-protest songs during the war years, as well an analysis of songs released in the post-war period. Other themes include regional songs, such as Puerto Ricans in the Vietnam War, Australia in the Vietnam War, New Zealand in the Vietnam War, Mexican-Americans, and songs from South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Genres include soul, gospel & funk, the blues, garage rock, and punk music. The project also looks at songs about key events and issues, which include the Chicago Seven, Kent State shootings, the My Lai Massacre, and the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue.[14][15] Other topics include songs about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Christmas music referencing the Vietnam War, and Vietnam War songs referencing the Civil rights movement in the US (1950s-60s), the Silent majority, and the Domino theory.

The project is a respected academic resource and a significant source of reference in popular culture.[16][17] [18]

See also

References
  1. "Modern Songs of War and Conflict". University of Maryland. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  2. Brummer, Justin. "The Vietnam War: A History in Song". History Today. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  3. Brosnahan, Cori. "Music of My Lai". PBS. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  4. Barber, James. "The Weird and Obsessive World of Songs About Vietnam". Military History. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  5. Burk, Kathleen (2018). The Lion and the Eagle: The Interaction of the British and American Empires 1783–1972. Bloomsbury.
  6. Brummer, Justin (2012). Anglo-American relations and the EC enlargement, 1969-1974 (PhD Thesis) (PDF). UCL Library: UCL.
  7. Brummer, Justin. "Vietnam War Song Project". RYM.
  8. Boarder, Jake. "How significant was rock music in suggesting anti-war feeling in America during the Vietnam War?". Northumbria University. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  9. "Vietnam Wars, 1945-1975: Online Lists of Songs". UCLA Library. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
  10. Kessing, Hugo, Wouter Keesing, C.L. Yarbrough, Justin Brummer. "Vietnam War Songs An incomplete discography". University of Maryland. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  11. Brummer, Justin. "Vietnam War Song Project". RYM. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  12. "The Hugo Keesing collection on popular music and culture". University of Maryland. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  13. Barnett, David. "'Next Stop Is Vietnam': A War In Song". NPR. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  14. Washington, Robin. ""Hear The Drumming: The music of the Kent State and Jackson State tragedies"". Wisconsin Public Radio. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  15. Brosnahan, Cori. "Music of My Lai". PBS. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  16. Rubin, Rachel Lee (2018). Merle Haggard's Okie from Muskogee. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
  17. Leepson, Marc (2017). Ballad of the Green Beret The Life and Wars of Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler from the Vietnam War and Pop Stardom to Murder and an Unsolved, Violent Death. Guilford, Connecticut: Stackpole Books.
  18. Alexander, Chad T. "Identification of behavioral indicators in political protest music" (PDF). Core. Calhoun: The NPS Institutional Archive. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
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