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Three-Five-Zero-Zero Lyrics
Ripped open by metal explosion
Caught in barbed wire
Fireball
Bullet shock
Bayonet
Electricity
Shrapnel
Throbbing meat
Electronic data processing
Black uniforms
Bare feet, carbines
Mail-order rifles
Shoot the muscles
256 Viet Cong captured
256 Viet Cong captured
Prisoners in Niggertown
It's a dirty little war
Three Five Zero Zero
Take weapons up and begin to kill
Watch the long long armies drifting home
Caught in barbed wire
Fireball
Bullet shock
Bayonet
Electricity
Shrapnel
Throbbing meat
Electronic data processing
Black uniforms
Bare feet, carbines
Mail-order rifles
Shoot the muscles
256 Viet Cong captured
256 Viet Cong captured
It's a dirty little war
Three Five Zero Zero
Take weapons up and begin to kill
Watch the long long armies drifting home
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Someone might be interested in knowing that the lyrics to this song were taken from a poem by Allen Ginsburg: "Wichita Vortex Sutra" --
http://www.allenginsberg.org/library/Text/7007.pdf
Bits and pieces taken from various parts of the (long) poem.
this song is played to the soldiers who are wating to go to Vietnam, by people against the war. it descibes what terror is expecting them, when they reached Vietnam. when they reached Vietnam it will be them against everybody, the FNL and there own country. like the song. its very (what to say) 'strong'. especially when they sing it in the movie.
does anyone know if three five zero zero has any specific significance?
@junk 3500 was the number of American men that died in an average month. I think "Prisoners In Nigger Town" refers to the fact that people like Bill Clinton and George Bush were able to avoid fighting because we sent black boys to die in their place.
@junk 3500 was the number of American men that died in an average month. I think "Prisoners In Nigger Town" refers to the fact that people like Bill Clinton and George Bush were able to avoid fighting because we sent black boys to die in their place.
@junk Dean Rusk stated that VietCong casualties were up to 3-5-0-0 per week. Several lines in the lyrics were from Allen Ginsburg's anti-war poem, Kansas Vortex Sutra
@junk Dean Rusk stated that VietCong casualties were up to 3-5-0-0 per week. Several lines in the lyrics were from Allen Ginsburg's anti-war poem, Kansas Vortex Sutra
I'd assume "three-five-zero-zero" stands for the number of people killed... or something along those lines maybe? or even the number of people going to Vietnam... but that doesn't necessarily make sense because there were many more than 3500 people that went to fight.
Aha, very interesting. I see not quite all the lyrics are from that poem, though, just most of them. (And let me just say in passing: MAN, that's a long poem. Thank goodness for the Acrobat search function.) I wonder if the HAIR soundtrack credited Allen Ginsburg as one of the songwriters?
@Storel yes they did.
@Storel yes they did.
What does 3-5-0-0 mean?
Answer #1: According to James Rado, it represents the number of G.I. casualties (either per week or per month, he isn‘t sure) at the height of the Vietnam War.
Answer #2: Three-five-zero-zero, or the number three-thousand-five-hundred, is the number of Americans (Marines), who, on March 8, 1965, landed in Vietnam, the first ever to be specifically designated as COMBAT troops, thus marking a turning point, the official beginning of America‘s (or LBJ‘s) escalation of the War in Vietnam.
@O Ren Ishii Thank you. I had never heard the second theory.
@O Ren Ishii Thank you. I had never heard the second theory.
The meaning of 3500 fits with the horrific imagery of the lyrics. It is the maximum effective range in meters of the M16A1 (Colt Model 603), the last version of that weapon use in Viet Nam.
Are you Americans? Because what you seem to have missed is that 3500 was the estimated population in Harlem at the time this song was written.
Are you Americans? Because what you seem to have missed is that 3500 was the estimated population in Harlem at the time this song was written.
So although all the above descriptions of the number 3-5-0-0 are correct, this song also denotes the liberation of the still (in the US) enslaved african-americans by the means of revolution sugessting that the movements in the 60´s should overcome the rasism in the US by waging war.
So although all the above descriptions of the number 3-5-0-0 are correct, this song also denotes the liberation of the still (in the US) enslaved african-americans by the means of revolution sugessting that the movements in the 60´s should overcome the rasism in the US by waging war.
I am Swedish and white and we are tought this in school, but black history is a subject often oversighted in the US still so...
I am Swedish and white and we are tought this in school, but black history is a subject often oversighted in the US still so I am not surprised no-one knew the answer.
It is a song with a lot of deeper meanings...
Mischaonline..while I agree that the song is in part about racism your comment that 3500 refers to the estimated poulation in Harlem at the time is way off. I lived in the area at the time and I assure you the population was much higher than 3500.
Mischaonline..while I agree that the song is in part about racism your comment that 3500 refers to the estimated poulation in Harlem at the time is way off. I lived in the area at the time and I assure you the population was much higher than 3500.
http://www.chesnuttarchive.org/classroom/lynchingstat.html It seems more likely in the context of the song that is comes from the historical number of black lynchings without a single conviction. See e.g. google post:Throughout the late 19th century racial tension grew throughout the United States. More of this tension was noticeable in the Southern parts of the United States. In the south, people were blaming their financial problems on the newly freed slaves that lived around them. Lynchings were becoming a popular way of resolving some of the anger that whites had in relation to the free blacks. From 1882-1968, 4,743 lynchings occurred in the United States. Of these people that were lynched 3,446 were black. "Lynching Statistics 1882-1968" ( suggest that surreal lyric would round this number off)
This song, man. The individual words, in juxtaposition and in the context with the expanding music, paint such a horrific picture of war. The second part then provides a contrasting image with the celebratory, parade-like music. Whoo, this song gets me every time.
March 8, 1965 - The first U.S. combat troops arrive in Vietnam as 3500 Marines land at China Beach to defend the American air base at Da Nang. They join 23,000 American military advisors already in Vietnam.
Source: http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1965.html
That should be the origin of the 3500, not anything about number of casualties.
The number 256 must be about this man who was a prisoner of war: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Hegdahl
Seaman Apprentice (E-2) Douglas B. Hegdahl is a former United States Navy sailor who was a prisoner of war (POW) during the Vietnam War. After his early release by North Vietnam, upon returning to the United States, he was able to provide the names and personal information of about 256 other POWs as well as revealing the conditions in the prison camp.
In the anti war song, I guess they use the same famous number but for the Viet Cong prisoners instead.
@skunkjobb Thank you
@skunkjobb Thank you