Vietnam War Song Project
{{Short description|Music and cultural archive}}
{{Infobox project
| name = Vietnam War Song Project (VWSP)
| logo = VWSP.jpg
| mission_statement = "This project is an interpretive examination of over 6,000 Vietnam War songs identified, revealing how the war's significance is represented through music"
| type = Free, open history, online, and physical archive
| location = Austin, Texas, U.S.
| founder = Justin Brummer
| established = {{Start date|2007}}, Washington D.C., U.S.
| website = {{URL|https://rateyourmusic.com/list/JBrummer/vietnam-war-song-project/}}
}}
The Vietnam War Song Project (VWSP) is an archive and interpretive examination of over 6000 Vietnam War songs identified.{{cite web |title=Modern Songs of War and Conflict |url=https://exhibitions.lib.umd.edu/songsofwar/vietnam/research |website=University of Maryland |access-date=22 July 2021}}{{cite journal |last1=Brummer |first1=Justin |title=The Vietnam War Song Project: A Texas Discography |journal=The Journal of Texas Music History |date=2024 |volume=24 |pages=26–51}} It was founded in 2007 by its current editor, Justin A. Brummer, a historian with a PhD in contemporary Anglo-American relations from University College London.{{cite book |last1=Burk |first1=Kathleen |title=The Lion and the Eagle: The Interaction of the British and American Empires 1783–1972 |date=2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=9781408856185 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Otk3DwAAQBAJ&dq=justin+brummer&pg=PT9}}{{cite book |last1=Brummer |first1=Justin |title=Anglo-American relations and the EC enlargement, 1969-1974 (PhD Thesis) |date=2012 |publisher=UCL |location=UCL Library |url=https://res.cloudinary.com/owlstown/image/upload/v1614791442/sites/btiPAk9xtB594StPvwxxLQVF/publication-pdf-jCPKyGR3Eq2XLXjzDhhpKLjs.pdf}} The project analyses the lyrics, and collects data on the genre, location, ethnicity, nationality, language, and time period of the recordings.{{cite web |last1=Brummer |first1=Justin |title=Vietnam War Song Project |url=https://rateyourmusic.com/list/JBrummer/vietnam-war-song-project/ |website=RYM}}{{cite web |last1=Boarder |first1=Jake |title=How significant was rock music in suggesting anti-war feeling in America during the Vietnam War? |url=https://www.academia.edu/20144787 |website=Northumbria University |access-date=18 August 2021}}{{cite web |title=Vietnam Wars, 1945-1975: Online Lists of Songs |url=https://guides.library.ucla.edu/c.php?g=773620&p=5550034 |website=UCLA Library |access-date=18 October 2021}} 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.
The project is currently hosted on the online collaborative database Rate Your Music, with components on YouTube, and at the University of Maryland.{{cite web |last1=Brummer |first1=Justin |title=The Vietnam War: A History in Song |url=https://www.historytoday.com/miscellanies/vietnam-war-history-song |website=History Today |access-date=22 July 2021}}{{cite web |last1=Brosnahan |first1=Cori |title=Music of My Lai |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/my-lai-music-of-my-lai/ |website=PBS |access-date=22 July 2021}}{{cite web |last1=Barber |first1=James |title=The Weird and Obsessive World of Songs About Vietnam |url=https://www.military.com/undertheradar/2017/09/weird-obsessive-world-songs-vietnam |website=Military History |access-date=22 July 2021}}
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.{{cite web |last1=Kessing |first1=Hugo, Wouter Keesing, C.L. Yarbrough, Justin Brummer |title=Vietnam War Songs An incomplete discography |url=https://exhibitions.lib.umd.edu/songsofwar/vietnam/recordings/home |website=University of Maryland |access-date=22 July 2021}} 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.{{cite web |last1=Brummer |first1=Justin |title=Vietnam War Song Project |url=https://rateyourmusic.com/list/JBrummer/vietnam-war-song-project/ |website=RYM |access-date=18 August 2021}}{{cite web |title=The Hugo Keesing collection on popular music and culture |url=https://archives.lib.umd.edu/repositories/4/resources/266 |website=University of Maryland |access-date=18 August 2021}}{{cite web |last1=Barnett |first1=David |title='Next Stop Is Vietnam': A War In Song |url=https://www.npr.org/2010/11/11/131242902/-next-stop-is-vietnam-a-war-in-song |website=NPR |access-date=18 August 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2021}}
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.{{cite web |last1=Washington |first1=Robin |title="Hear The Drumming: The music of the Kent State and Jackson State tragedies" |url=https://www.wpr.org/shows/simply-superior-july-16-2021 |website=Wisconsin Public Radio |access-date=22 July 2021}}{{cite web |last1=Brosnahan |first1=Cori |title=Music of My Lai |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/my-lai-music-of-my-lai/ |website=PBS |access-date=22 July 2021}} 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.{{cite book |last1=Rubin |first1=Rachel Lee |title=Merle Haggard's Okie from Muskogee |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |date=2018 |location=London}}{{cite book |last1=Leepson |first1=Marc |title=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 |date=2017 |publisher=Stackpole Books |location=Guilford, Connecticut}}{{cite web |last1=Alexander |first1=Chad T. |title=Identification of behavioral indicators in political protest music |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/36740052.pdf |website=Core |publisher=Calhoun: The NPS Institutional Archive |access-date=1 September 2021}}{{cite book |last1=O'Donnell |first1=Lawrence |title=Playing with Fire: The 1968 Election and the Transformation of American Politics |date=2018 |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |isbn=9780399563164 |page=470}}{{cite book |last1=Baumgartner |first1=Jody C. |title=American Political Humor: Masters of Satire and Their Impact on U.S. Policy and Culture |date=2019 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |page=288 & 293}}{{cite book |last1=Ó Briain |first1=Lonán |title=Voices of Vietnam - A Century of Radio, Red Music, and Revolution |date=2021 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780197558232 |page=v}}{{cite web |last1=Starkey |first1=Arun |title=How did the Vietnam War change popular culture? |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/how-did-the-vietnam-war-change-popular-culture/ |website=Far Out |access-date=12 September 2023}}{{cite book |last1=Baumgartner |first1=Jody C. |title=American Political Humor: Masters of Satire and Their Impact on U.S. Policy and Culture, Vol. 2 |date=2019 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=9781440854859 |page=288 }} Erin R. McCoy, Associate Professor of English at the University of South Carolina Beaufort, notes in her book A War Tour of Viet Nam: A Cultural History, that "Brummer...is tirelessly cataloging every obscure piece of music from the Viet Nam era or about the Viet Nam War. His work is amazing and a...deeper dive into music".{{cite book |last1=McCoy |first1=Erin R. |title=A War Tour of Viet Nam: A Cultural History |date=2021 |publisher=McFarland & Company |location=North Carolina |isbn=978-1-4766-8241-9 |page=7}} Furthermore, McCoy remarks "Dr. Brummer...combs record stores around the world looking for obscure and unique songs written about the war, and the collection he's continually building is some serious and important work".{{cite book |last1=McCoy |first1=Erin R. |title=A War Tour of Viet Nam: A Cultural History |date=2021 |publisher=McFarland & Company |location=North Carolina |isbn=978-1-4766-8241-9 |pages=102–03}}
James Barber's interview in military.com with "Justin Brummer, the one-man operation who put together the project...the greatest scholar of songs about the Vietnam War" notes "The Vietnam War Song Project is an epic undertaking".{{cite web |last1=Barber |first1=James |title=The Weird and Obsessive World of Songs About Vietnam |url=https://www.military.com/undertheradar/2017/09/weird-obsessive-world-songs-vietnam |website=Military.com |access-date=29 December 2021}} Moreover, Barber wrote "it's an invaluable resource for anyone who cares about the history of the war".{{cite web |last1=Barber |first1=James |title=10 Great Country Music Songs About the Vietnam War |url=https://www.military.com/off-duty/2019/09/24/10-great-country-music-songs-about-vietnam-war.html |website=Military.com |access-date=20 February 2024}} In Barber's TechHive article, he noted that "the amazing Vietnam War Song Project channel on YouTube... aims to collect all songs written about the war. Many of these were one-off, private-pressing 45s, and Justin Brummer is painstakingly archiving them on YouTube".{{cite web |last1=Barber |first1=James |title=YouTube Music Premium review: The biggest library in the business |url=https://www.techhive.com/article/632943/youtube-music-premium-review.html |website=TechHive |access-date=19 April 2022}} The University of Maryland's Modern Songs of War and Conflict archive comments "The Vietnam War Song Project, helmed by Justin Brummer" is "an ever-expanding project seeking to assemble a comprehensive discography of the war".{{cite web |last1=University of Maryland |title=Modern Songs of Conflict and War |url=https://exhibitions.lib.umd.edu/songsofwar/vietnam/research |access-date=29 December 2021}}
The Tennessee Council for the Social Studies has praised the work of the VWSP, noting the "Vietnam War Songs Project continues to find incredible Primary Sources for teachers to use in their Vietnam War teaching", and that the project "adds a different primary source emphasis to dealing with the Vietnam War".{{cite web |last1=Tennessee Council for the Social Studies|title=Twitter post |url=https://twitter.com/The_TNCSS/status/1426245816834998276 |website=Twitter |access-date=7 January 2022}}{{cite web |last1=Tennessee Council for the Social Studies|title=Twitter post|url=https://twitter.com/The_TNCSS/status/1446185638202597378 |website=Twitter |access-date=7 January 2022}} Rachel Lee Rubin, Professor of American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, notes in her book Merle Haggard’s Okie from Muskogee, "I...want to call attention—to the magnificent Vietnam on Record discography, compiled by Hugo Keesing, Wouter Keesing, C. L. Yarbrough, and Justin Brummer".{{cite book |last1=Ruben |first1=Rachel Lee |title=Merle Haggard's Okie from Muskogee |date=2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |page=viii}} Writer Cori Brosnahan, in her PBS American Experience article on the songs of the My Lai massacre observes "researcher Justin Brummer started studying songs of the Vietnam War while preparing his PhD...and today he has catalogued some 5,000 songs".{{cite web |last1=Brosnahan |first1=Cori |title=Music of My Lai |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/my-lai-music-of-my-lai/ |website=PBS |access-date=22 July 2021}}
Jason Mellard, Director of the Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University, noted that "Justin Brummer...and his Vietnam War Song Project...attempt to document every song recorded about the Vietnam War. The public face of the project is a YouTube channel where you can listen to many rare 45s unavailable on any streaming service".{{cite journal |last1=Mellard |first1=Jason |title=Letter From the Director |journal=The Journal of Texas Music History |date=2024 |volume=24 |page=2}} Franklin Fantini, founder of the Dollar Country archive, wrote "The VWSP is amazing to behold, containing thousands of discs that are organized, researched, and written about. It’s obviously controlled by a passionate and loving archivist, and that archivist is Dr. Justin Brummer".{{cite journal |last1=Fantini |first1=Franklin |title=Vietnam War Song Project |journal=Dollar Country Newsletter |date=November 2024 |issue=008}}