Music from the trenches has always carried more substance than songs about war written by people who have never witnessed the reality. Back home, protest and patriotic-war songs have always expressed our political tendencies, declaring our support for, or against, the war. In doing so, we create a line between “them” and who we consider to be “us.” The voices of the common soldier often go unheard–the ones that we send off to fight year after year, the ones that survive or die or remain nestled between. This is the story of one such voice.
During the summer of 1951 in the mountains of Korea, just days before the truce talks in Kaesong began, RCA-Victor released what was to be the very first tune about the Korean Conflict to come from the battlefront. Earlier that spring, the Korean battlefields were dominated by fierce grenade battles and brutal trench warfare between US forces and the North Korean troops and the Communist Chinese. Lt. Stewart Powell, an American Special Services Officer who spent his time traveling back and forth from the Korean front to Tokyo, scribbled down a few lines about being lonesome and far from home and would eventually make a small contribution to war music history.
The tune was called “Rotation Blues” (rca-victor #48-0494) an A-side Hank Williams-style hillbilly number about the loneliness of war. The flip side contained a western-pop number called “Cowpoke.” “Rotation Blues” may have remained simply a personal piece of writing if it hadn’t been for Louis M. “Grandpa” Jones and yodeler Elton Britt, two prominent country-western recording artists who were introduced to the tune while entertaining the troops with the USO (United Service Organization) near the Korean front. For the exhausted soldiers and Marines thousands of miles from home the tune hit a familiar note and became popular very quickly.
Britt played the song on the AFN (Armed Forces Radio Network) and received so much mail following the performance that he contacted publisher Nat Tannen and strongly suggested he get the song recorded. Tannen, a man who could easily recognize a unique tune immediately contacted Lt. Powell in Korea via transoceanic phone calls and convinced him to make a deal for the recording rights over the phone. Weeks later Elton Britt and The Skytoppers were in the RCA-Victor Studio in New York putting it down on shellac. Later, Bill Monroe put a bluegrass flavor to the tune and recorded it for Decca, followed by Hoagy Carmichael’s jazz version.
The simplicity of the lyrics and kitschy-hillbilly music mask the deeper emotional state of the American soldier’s isolation in a country at war. The Korean “Conflict” (1950-53) was never officially declared a war and many folks back home were still coming down from the end of World War II. American troops who were on occupation duty in Europe and Japan had been streaming back to the states for the last six years and nobody thought that an American call to arms would come again so soon, but in 1950 it did.
This is one of the first American pop songs to shed some light on the lives of the contemporary foot soldier on the battlefield. It is a glimpse into the monotony of a soldier’s day to day experience–far away from the comforts of home, the one place that everybody in Korea wanted to be. The tune starts off with a simple guitar, steel guitar, piano and bass, then a signature Elton Britt yodel wails; “I got the ro-oo-oh-ta-a-tion blues. I’m a lonely soldier sittin’ in Korea. I’m a lonely soldier sittin’ in Korea. But rotation’s comin’ so I shouldn’t have no fear.” The subject of the fear is only implied by the use of the word. There is no mention of destruction and suffering on the front lines, no dying or killing, just a few sad words from a man waiting patiently for his rotation papers.
While in 1951 it may have been good news to the boys in the trenches and mountains that truce discussions had begun it would still be another two years before anything realistic came out of the talks, besides the troops were experiencing an overwhelming pre-occupation with survival. Any serious hope of a truce seemed trivial when you were living on the frozen dirt. In the meantime soldiers and Marines were still living, killing and dying in the icy rain, mud and snow but that did not stop them from daydreaming about leaving; “I’m gonna pack my bags and sail back over the sea. I’m gonna pack my bags and sail back lover the sea. ‘Cause the A-frames in Korea don’t look good on me” There is no sense of patriotism or gung-ho American stereotypes, just a mention that his duffel bag and a trip home may be more his style than an “A-Frame” the slang for the wooden packs that the villagers used to carry massive loads on their backs. It is no wonder that Lt. Powell’s song became so popular with the grunts, this was music written by a soldier for soldiers, and it spoke their language, he was one of them.
“Rotation Blues” is an example one of the first times a pop song put an American soldier’s mental stability into question: “Rotation had better hurry up and set me free, I’m buggin’ out. Rotation had better hurry up and set me free, section 8’s gonna get me. The honey pots in Korea done started smellin’ good to me” A Section 8 is a military term for being discharged from service for reasons of mental-illness or problems, like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which back in the 50s was called battle fatigue. In the last part of the lyric we are introduced to another daily problem of the GIs and Marines; “honey pots” these were Korean toilets that were kept inside the house until they were full then they would empty them into roadside ditches, by the time they were full they resembled the sight and smell of honey very little. If an attack occurred the first spot a soldier would instinctively seek was the roadside ditches. This soldier is slowly losing his grip and ‘buggin’ out’ is just the first sign.
Listening to this record 63 years after it was recorded, I can’t help but wonder what it would have sounded like to sit next to Lt. Powell and hear him play it in out in the field. I wonder what his voice and playing would have added to the meaning and impact of the lyrics. I wonder what his buddies may have felt inside as he sang and I wonder where their experiences may have led them. I can only hope it was home.
Paul M Davis
6 Comments
Guest
You again hit a forgotten topic…forgotten by time and people. These slices of out past lives are so important not to forget. That's why I love history. History, by it's very word, is something that happened in the past. It's our responsibility to act as social archaeologists and find these gems that made us so warm…and human.
As an aside, I remember working at the Futurama Bowl Coffee Shop back in 1968 and on the playback music machine there was a Grand Pa Jones tune I loved and would play over and over…"Old Rattler Pup". I remember picking out my future children's names listening to that tune! Funny play on words that my future children's names were picked out at the Futurama Bowl!
11 Mar 2010 11:03 pm
Tom LG
Thanks I really appreciate the thought out feedback.
12 Mar 2010 05:03 pm
RONAL SHERWOOD
" I was stationed all over Korea 1953-56. I instantly became a fan of ELTON BRITT when he traveled with the Camel Caravan with VAUGHN MONROE & other stars to entertain the troops. We loved "rotation Blues because it was about us,the GI. We didn't psyco- analyse the music we heard, we appreciated we were thought of in a sense of being respected about our daily life. There isn't a soldier that gave up a R&R or refuse to go home when his time came, believe me! " . You call it buggin' out. Well so be it.! " The best song that Elton did about the war was ' KOREAN MUD '." Try and find that song anywhere. I have the 45rpm & play it yet."
Thank you,
Ron Sherwood ron.sherwood@mchsi.com
19 Aug 2010 02:08 pm
Tom
Thanks for sharing that Ron. I'm glad that you got to read this piece. It is always nice to know somebody appreciates near forgotten music. Have a great day.
-Tom
24 Aug 2010 11:08 am
Drew
Excellent article! I'm a history major at Cal State Fullerton in Southern California and have always had a great interest in the Korean War. After interviewing my grandfather about his experience in that war and listening to other veterans, a common notion which would arise was the issue of their service being "forgotten." Good to see such a great document dedicated to the social history in the form of music during that conflict.
06 Jan 2011 11:01 pm
Tom LG
Thank you kindly Drew. I'm glad to know that there are other folks out there who are interested in remembering what many would just as soon forget. Music in the time of war is a unique concept. It would be impossible the think of WW2 without the big bands, of Vietnam without Jimi Hendrix.. we have so much history to learn from music. THanks for reading.
07 Jan 2011 01:01 pm
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