KB: "I saw this incredible documentary by this Australian cameraman who went on the front line in Vietnam, filming from the Vietnamese point of view, so it was very biased against the Americans. He said it really changed him, because until you live on their level like that, when it's complete survival, you don't know what it's about. He's never been the same since, because it's so devastating, people dying all the time. The way he portrayed the Vietnamese was as this really crafted, beautiful race. The Americans were these big, fat, pink, smelly things who the Vietnamese could smell coming for miles because of the tobacco and cologne. It was devastating, because you got the impression that the Americans were so heavy and awkward, and the Vietnamese were so wbeautiful and all getting wiped out. They wore a little silver Buddha on a chain around their neck and when they went into action they'd pop it into their mouth, so if they died they'd have Buddha on their lips. I wanted to write a song that could somehow convey the whole thing, so we set it in the jungle and had helicopters, crickets and little Balinese frogs."
~ ZigZag, "Dream Time in the Bush", Kris Needs, 1982
http://gaffa.org/reaching/i82_zz.html
The documentary KaTe refers to may have been by John Richard Pilger. Pilger's Vietnam films include: "The Quiet Mutiny" (1970), "Vietnam: Still America's War" (1974), and "Do You Remember Vietnam?" (1978). So it could have been one of these films which KaTe saw and which inspired POTP.
John Richard Pilger (born 9 October 1939) is an Australian journalist. "The Quiet Mutiny" in 1970 was the first of over 60 documentary films by Pilger. Filmed at Camp Snuffy, the film presented a character study of the common US soldier during the Vietnam War, revealing the shifting morale and open rebellion of Western troops. Pilger described the film as "something of a scoop" because, he said, it was one of the first pieces to demonstrate the low morale of US troops in Vietnam. "When I flew to New York and showed it to Mike Wallace, the star reporter of CBS' 60 Minutes, he agreed. "Real shame we can't show it here"", Pilger said in an interview with the New Statesman.
The documentary KaTe refers to is FRONT LINE (1979), featuring the Australian cameraman, NEIL DAVIS, who worked in Southeast Asia from 1964 until his death in 1985. Davis was eventually killed by a burst of shrapnel in a street in Bangkok on 9 September 1985.
The documentary KaTe refers to is FRONT LINE (1979), featuring the Australian cameraman, NEIL DAVIS, who worked in Southeast Asia from 1964 until his death in 1985. Davis was eventually killed by a burst of shrapnel in a street in Bangkok on 9 September 1985.
^ Thank you :)
KB: "I saw this incredible documentary by this Australian cameraman who went on the front line in Vietnam, filming from the Vietnamese point of view, so it was very biased against the Americans. He said it really changed him, because until you live on their level like that, when it's complete survival, you don't know what it's about. He's never been the same since, because it's so devastating, people dying all the time. The way he portrayed the Vietnamese was as this really crafted, beautiful race. The Americans were these big, fat, pink, smelly things who the Vietnamese could smell coming for miles because of the tobacco and cologne. It was devastating, because you got the impression that the Americans were so heavy and awkward, and the Vietnamese were so wbeautiful and all getting wiped out. They wore a little silver Buddha on a chain around their neck and when they went into action they'd pop it into their mouth, so if they died they'd have Buddha on their lips. I wanted to write a song that could somehow convey the whole thing, so we set it in the jungle and had helicopters, crickets and little Balinese frogs." ~ ZigZag, "Dream Time in the Bush", Kris Needs, 1982 http://gaffa.org/reaching/i82_zz.html
The documentary KaTe refers to may have been by John Richard Pilger. Pilger's Vietnam films include: "The Quiet Mutiny" (1970), "Vietnam: Still America's War" (1974), and "Do You Remember Vietnam?" (1978). So it could have been one of these films which KaTe saw and which inspired POTP.
John Richard Pilger (born 9 October 1939) is an Australian journalist. "The Quiet Mutiny" in 1970 was the first of over 60 documentary films by Pilger. Filmed at Camp Snuffy, the film presented a character study of the common US soldier during the Vietnam War, revealing the shifting morale and open rebellion of Western troops. Pilger described the film as "something of a scoop" because, he said, it was one of the first pieces to demonstrate the low morale of US troops in Vietnam. "When I flew to New York and showed it to Mike Wallace, the star reporter of CBS' 60 Minutes, he agreed. "Real shame we can't show it here"", Pilger said in an interview with the New Statesman.
The documentary KaTe refers to is FRONT LINE (1979), featuring the Australian cameraman, NEIL DAVIS, who worked in Southeast Asia from 1964 until his death in 1985. Davis was eventually killed by a burst of shrapnel in a street in Bangkok on 9 September 1985.
The documentary KaTe refers to is FRONT LINE (1979), featuring the Australian cameraman, NEIL DAVIS, who worked in Southeast Asia from 1964 until his death in 1985. Davis was eventually killed by a burst of shrapnel in a street in Bangkok on 9 September 1985.