John Schumann has marked the 40th anniversary of his iconic Redgum song ‘I Was Only 19’ with a new version with The Waifs, produced by Shane Howard.
In a statement John said, Such a pleasure to work together finally. Mutual respect and an intuitive mutual understanding how we Australians tell stories in music.
Our 40th Anniversary Version of ‘I Was Only 19’ with The Waifs, produced by Shane Nicholson is out today.
Once recording & production costs are recouped, our artist royalties will be directed to the Commando Welfare Trust (https://commandotrust.com/) which provides support where the existing veterans’ services don’t.
John Schumann tells Noise11.com, “Its quite extraordinary to think how long that song has lasted. Even today I am surprised by the level of affection there is right across Australia for that song. Even from people who weren’t even born when it went to number one. I am definitely blessed. A songwriter very rarely gets to write a song like ‘I Was Only 19’.”
To put a timeline on the song, when the song was released in 1983 it was just eight years after the Vietnam war ended. John almost didn’t finish the song when Don Walker beat him to a Vietnam story in Cold Chisel’s classic ‘Khe Sanh’. “I was toying with the idea of a song about Vietnam veterans and then Don (Walker) wrote ‘Khe Sanh’ (Cold Chisel) and I thought he hit it over the fence for six and there was no room,” John tells Noise11.com.
“Somehow, for some reason or other I wrote mine anyway. While the broad mass of Australian’s still love ‘Khe Sanh’ the thing that gave mine its cred was I got the detail right. The Vietnam Veterans, they understood what Don was trying to say with ‘Khe Sanh’ but they absolutely identified and resonated with ‘I Was Only 19’. It was their commitment to the song, their approval, no matter how painful it was, it was their approval that dragged the rest of us”.
John adds, “The fact is Australian’s weren’t at Khe Sanh. I was singing about Nui Dat and Vung Tau and Don was singing about Khe Sanh. It is only those people that understand about Australia’s participation in the Vietnam War know that”.
Stay updated with your free Noise11.com daily music news email alert. Subscribe to Noise11 Music News here
Be the first to see NOISE.com’s newest interviews and special features on YOUTUBE and updated regularly. See things first SUBSCRIBE here: Noise11 on YouTube SUBSCRIBE
