Billy Joel - Goodnight Saigon (Audio)

One thing I love about this recording is how Billy is in no hurry to get to the chorus.

Thanks to all veterans for are freedom.

You can't listen to this and not get goose bumps. Thanks to all Vietnam Vets, wherever you are. Note: Whenever I have to go out & fight mole incursions into my yard, sometimes at night, I play this song afterwards.

Answering the call of duty, stopping the plans that you have to answer the call to serve your country. Whether you got drafted or enlisted, draft dodgers or men that absolutely refused to serve this country, will never have the courage to defend our great nation. Any and all of the wars that our great nation has been in, I salute all who died, got wounded, or those that made it through the war. As I am looking at all of Graves in Arlington cemetery, I salute you all, Amen .....

What an amazing song that tells a very accurate story of what it was like to be sent to fight in Vietnam for a cause of which even the vast majority of soldiers had no idea. Damn all those who sent our boys to fight a war that: #1 - Was never ours to begin with, and therefore we had no business in fighting, and #2 - Caused way more damage than the good it was supposed to do.

And we've since repeated the pattern in Iraq and Afghanistan. 🙄 At least we're out of Afghanny now.

To all who served in Vietnam, Thank you for your service💯

Love this song

Early Billy Joel albums brilliant give them a listen

It took a great deal of artistic courage for Billy Joel to jump feet first into this subject but he wrote the definitive Vietnam Veterans anthem.

“They were sharp - as sharp as knives - they heard the hum of the motors - they counted the rotors - and waited for us to arrive”

Wow

I can imagine the last final powerful chorus sang by both American and North Vietnam veterans - aging and feeble.
Their collective concerns as old men contrasted with they distant concerns as young men - both identical. Any war veterans who were adversaries can identify with that.

That would be powerful stuff.
And maybe if that happened America could actually win the Vietnam War because we have the courage to face our demons.

Billy Joel does Kurt Weill.... brilliantly.

Great song..
Sad to see so many die in a senseless war

Brilliant the way it ends with the same sounds as the start just reversed. Insuiating that the soldiers are now coming home to the sound of crickets instead of leaving to the sound of choppers.

Brilliant song

Playing this on 1.25x speed is actually good

Horrible, pointless war that killed so many people senselessly. Heartbreaking on all sides. Always loved this song.

The caused many people to lose their life's back in nam but it's over now

❤’And we were sharp, as sharp as knives’.

Landed in Elgin in "66" at 1212 Larkin Ave, LHFC of the 35 kids that live there, in 1968 two soldiers in full Greens and asked for one the girls from 3 East, Penny they took her out to the Front Porch one of the soldiers reached out to gently placed his white gloved hands onto shoulders while speaking to her very softly, after he finished she buckled at her knees, crying only his support held her in place! She collected herself and the 2nd soldier handed her a triangle shape folded US flag, both took one step backwards simultaneously and soluted her about face and walked down the porch stairs to enter their drab olive paint vehicle with a white roof and down the drive onto Larkin Ave! We found out later that Penny had lost her only Brother in Vietnam and now she was the only member of her left! Kids at 10 & 12 are insensitive at things like that especially in a competitive environment like a kids home! Later as a Marine I found out about the Tet Offensive in "68" a lot of flags were passed out that year! Our House Parent Chris Olsen had an older Brother in the army serving stationed in Vietnam! He had a fantastic record collection that Chris would play on his cheap plastic portal mono record player! The Stones, Beatles, Moody Blues etc. the ying & yang of being a kid in the 60's during Nam! One end you see a kid you live with get a flag on the other a 5th grader learned all the lyrics to the Rolling Stones "Her Majesty's Satanic Request" not fully understanding either until much later in life! As an Ex Marine "74-77" never going in Country! But being raised by Vietnam Veterans just coming back to the world! And Billy Joe's Miss Saigon later on! Makes me proud to say I knew and worked alongside Marines that had the Mentality of "We all will down together" but in the end! the Real World! Pull's us apart! Only to be against your own brother! This is a cold rock we live on hurtling us through space! Only tragedy brings us together for such a brief moment in time!
"Please too meet you! Hope you guess my Name" The Vietnam Veterans have never received their just due! 58,000+! Desert Storm 5,000 +/- ? Figure it out???!

Poor USA soilders I feel so bad for them fighting for there country and seeing there mates die 😢☠️

I was sitting on a beach in 1988 and a teenage boy plops down behind everyone on the edge of the grass with the biggest boom box I had ever seen. Most people did not notice when he pressed play on the cassette player and, with the volume turned ALL THE WAY UP we heard what sounded like a helicopter landing on the beach. Every single person turned around and looked up at the sky, then knew what was happening once the plinks of Billy's piano started. The kid was grinning ear to ear.

He (Billy Joel) had to have talked to many a Vietnam vet, especially the ones who were in the very thick of it all, to nail it like he did with this one !

Senseless wars. Senseless deaths. Nothing has changed. They refuse to learn. War is a racket.

One of Joel's most important and sobering songs <3

I had a Grandpa Bob that was a Vietnam Veteran, he passed away at the beginning of Last Summer the second half of May, He told his family that he wasn't just in the NAVY, he did a lot of things, he was a police officer and he was a mailman. He was a great guy.

The Vietnam War veterans really got the short end of the stick. I'm a Millennial and can't not be emotional listening to this song because it was similar to what happened when a lot of my friends went off to Iraq or Afghanistan. Most just saw it as a lost cause. I grew up hearing this song as my father is/was a Billy Joel fan. The cruel reality is that while history rarely repeats, it often rhymes.

I think of an Australian song that also took its perspective of the Vietnam War, "Khe Sanh" by Cold Chisel, as Australia also fought in the Vietnam War as allies of the United States, which is about the lament of the Aussie Vietnam veteran coming back home. It was just as controversial there as it was here. "There were no V-Day heroes in 1973."

Song?

Billy Joel absolutely at his finest singing about the misery of the common man

Jesus that is unbelievable

As the automaton commissar stood on the edge of the cliff, heavily damaged and losing power, on malevelon creek, it felt... A sense of happiness.
It was happy that it finally able to complete its task, To serve And fight alongside its mechanical brethren It looked at the rising sun, as the gunfire slowly died down as the helldivers were cut down one by one by troopers and hulks.
It sat down, admiring the scenery... As its eyes began to dim.. it let out one last cry of defiance before shutting off forever..
"CANT KEEP HER DOWN!"
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.
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.
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The automaton fell on its side, losing power to its movement outputs.
As its eyes dimmed slowly.. its story concluded. Not shot dead by helldivers, but on a cliff edge, at peace with itself and happy that it had done what it was made to do. One. Last. Time.

Billy Joel

John Ruiz entry into ring for heavyweight title fight lol😅

Cpl Michael Caputo, Alhambra California, and we all go down together

My husband was there 3 times, Black ops and he told his commander because he wanted more to come back home safe because they don't know who to trust the languages, the true natives in the mountains were very helpful if you respect them. And besides out of the 200 guys he went over there with only 8 came back. He didn't let that happen again if he was able. If he walked in your camp and he took you out on a mission, you came back, A three day trip and no sleep till you were back. If you ran into one of those guys you came back if he had to carry you! He is gone now, and I tell you all this because he loves yoh all so much, had nightmares, ptsd, cried wake up screaming into his pillow, the sit up, get a cup of coffee, and we would smoke and talk through it or anything . we danced on our rug in living g room and just hug each other tight glad we still could.He has been gone 20 years this summer, but to me he never left. He's just waiting for me!

The first time I heard this song I was stunned. Literally frozen in place. Nothing I've heard captures it like this masterpiece from Billy Joel. Thank you to all who served and sacrificed.

03 Marine, , 74 -80 , good song , for US

I can hear crickets and helicopters.

To all of the people that suffered and experienced the war in Vietnam, I salute.

My grandfather Served in Vietnam 1970-1971 Royal Australian Engineers

AI en Genetische Modifikatie, we zijn na twee duizend jaar veel opgeschoten.

Can someone tell me what year the original album was recorded. I had a copy while I was still a teenager so I know its not the version recorded in 2011.

And by the way, what happened to "our SOUP"???

I served in the Navy, 1982-94, post Nam, non combat, E-5 Yeoman, so I can only begin to know what true soldiers/sailors/Marines went through there. Can only thank them for their sacrifice.

I get serious Radiohead meets Beatles vibes from this song

..............Goodnight America. ROCK ON!

Remarkable song. I got to hear it in person, and it was a grim but great performance. The arena was dark. Then the sound of the choppers crept in, and the shadow of rotors appeared on the ceiling. During the chorus, a line of people in fatigues, arms around each other's shoulders, and began to sing in the dim gray light. It was so mourningly moving. A true classic.

Happy Veterans Day