Question About a Song

[babyteen]

I have a question about the song, "Goodnight Saigon" by Billy Joel. Did Billy sing with a choir of men in this song? If so, who were the men in the choir?

Or was it a church congregation? Or, was it possibly Billy singing his own harmonies?

[Tenacious_Peaches]

I saw Billy back in the 80s and he always called upon a group of Vietnam veterans from the area he was playing to help sing the chorus onstage with him. I've poked around and can't find any concrete proof that the chorus on the actual record were vets, but I would imagine that's the case. It's a fantastic song, btw.

We met as soul mates on Parris Island.

We left as inmates from an asylum.

And we were sharp, as sharp as knives.

And we were so gung ho to lay down our lives.

We came in spastic like tameless horses.

We left in plastic as numbered corpses.

And we learned fast to travel light.

Our arms were heavy but our bellies were tight.

We had no home front, we had no soft soap.

They sent us Playboy, they gave us Bob Hope.

We dug in deep and shot on sight and

prayed to Jesus Christ with all our might.

We had no cameras to shoot the landscape.

We passed the hash pipe and played our Doors tapes.

And it was dark, so dark at night.

And we held on to each other like brother to brother,

we promised our mothers we'd write.

And we would all go down together,

we said we'd all go down together.

Yes, we would all go down together.

Remember Charlie? Remember Baker?

They left their childhood on every acre.

And who was wrong? And who was right?

It didn't matter in the thick of the fight

We held the day in the palm of our hand.

They ruled the night

and the night seemed to last as long

as six weeks on Parris Island.

We held the coastline, they held the highlands.

And they were sharp, as sharp as knives.

They heard the hum of our motors,

they counted the rotors and waited for us to arrive.

And we would all go down together,

we said we'd all go down together.

Yes, we would all go down together.

[_Laurie_]

Wow Peachy...that's a nice little bit of info on that song...I never knew that...till now...

[babyteen]

I read somewhere that the song starts with almost a minute of silence. However, I've listened carefully, and I can hear what sounds like crickets singing softly in the evening sky. Then I hear the faint tinkle of windchimes. Then I can hear what sounds like helicopters. Were those actually helicopters from the days of the Vietnam War?