STILL IN SAIGON: HOW A VIETNAM WAR SONG CAN SPEAK TO ALL VETERANS
Travis Pike | May 26, 2023
Music can often be universal, and veterans are clearly not the only people who suffer from trauma. The song Still in Saigon came out in the 80s when songs about Vietnam were popular. Bruce Springsteen had Born in the U.S.A., Huey Lewis and the News had Walking on a Thin Line, and Charlie Daniels had Still in Saigon which is the only one I really relate to.
Dan Daley has stated that the song is a metaphor for other kinds of traumatic experiences.
Still in Saigon – A personal history
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Charlie Daniels was not a veteran and neither was Still in Saigon’s songwriter Dan Daley. How the two men captured the feeling of a returning veteran is a testament to their skill. Daniels famously wrote his own music, rarely taking a song from an outside writer. Yet, he must have seen the potential of Still in Saigon when he decided to sing it.
I first heard the song from my dad, who was a big fan of Charlie Daniels (I’ve heard Devil Went Down to Georgia about eight million times).
I remember, as a kid asking my dad what the song was about. I got a brief explanation that Saigon was in Vietnam and the song was about the Vietnam War. When I would press on about its meaning, I got a rather simple explanation. “Oh, he’s just having flashbacks to the war.”
https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/still-in-saigon-how-a-vietnam-war-song-can-speak-to-all-veterans/
