Among the groups that
have traveled the wastelands of post-'70s rock totally unrelated to their time,
the Redgum are undoubtedly the most out time of all. It was the early eighties
when they still were going around with Afghan coat, jeans bell-bottom-style and
beards like the Band period Big Pink. Escaped from the Village who roamed the
southern plains, around Adelaide, playing acoustic guitars, mandolins, flutes,
and fiddle in Celtic sauce. Flutes! Sheer madness ... not that, behind that
beard, Schumann was a true songwriter, a little 'outlaw a little' off-course
sociology student, able to write one of the most engaging songs about Vietnam: I Was Only 19. And only 10 years late.
But perhaps in this long latency is the
beauty of a piece that does not come detached from the experience, but from the
author’s chats with some Australian veterans of that dirty and nasty war.
From here a technical
vocabulary so extensive, precise and refined that it seems written by a drill
sergeant in Cangura, at least partially mitigating the rhetoric so dull and
common songs like that.
Told in first person
as you would a veteran on the psychiatrist's couch, it proceeds with powerful and
synthetic images like walking through the "green light" that, on the
maps, showed the discovered prairies in
which the ambush was easy for Charlie, where every step could be the last on
your legs, where the only way to stay involved in life was to think of
something else.
Where the drama
becomes more acute, but more obvious, Schumann gets hold of the more evocative
line of the entire song.
And even that “I was only nineteen”, who at first
seems the usual platitudes of circumstance, becomes more meaningful and more
weight each repetition, until it becomes really unbearable after the row of
question that is not found, and there are still , a real answers.
You do not listen it
in Forrest Gump or in Platoon; definitely not on TV. But it's a great piece of “news
of war”, to read, listen and do not forget.
Fra i gruppi che hanno percorso le terre desolate del Rock post ‘70 totalmente
estranei al loro tempo, i Redgum sono senz’altro i più fuori orario fra tutti.
Erano i primi anni Ottanta quando loro ancora se ne andavano in giro con
cappottoni afgani, jeans a zampa e barbe incolte in stile the Band periodo Big
Pink. Dei fuoriusciti dal Village che vagavano per le lande australi, in quel
di Adelaide, suonando chitarre acustiche, mandolini, fiddle in salsa celtica e
flauti. Flauti! Roba da denuncia … Se non che dietro a quella barba ispida di Schumann
stava un vero songwriter, un po’ outlaw un po’ studente di sociologia fuori
corso, in grado di scrivere una delle più coinvolgenti canzoni sul Vietnam di
sempre: I Was Only 19. E con solo 10
anni di ritardo. Ma magari proprio in questa lunga latenza sta il bello di un
pezzo che non nasce avulso dall’esperienza, bensì dalle chiacchierate dell’autore
con alcuni veterani australiani di quella guerra sporca e cattiva.
Da qui un vocabolario tecnico talmente ampio, preciso e ricercato da
sembrare scritto da un sergente istruttore a Cangura, tale da mitigare almeno in
parte quella retorica così melensa e comune in brani di questo genere.
From Vung Tau, riding Chinooks, to the dust at
Nui Dat
I've been in and out of choppers now for
months.
But we made our tents a home, VB and pinups on
the lockers
And an Agent orange sunset through the scrub.
Raccontata in prima persone come farebbe un reduce sul lettino dello
psichiatra, procede per immagini sintetiche ma potenti, camminando attraverso
quel “light green” che sulle mappe indicava le praterie scoperte in cui era
facile l’imboscata di Charlie, in cui ogni passo poteva essere l’ultimo sulle
tue gambe, dove l’unico modo per restare attaccati alla vita era pensare a qualcos’altro.
A four week operation, when each step can mean
your last one on two legs
It was a war within yourself
But you wouldn't let your mates down 'til they
had you dusted off
So you closed your eyes and thought about
somethin' else
Dove il dramma si fa più acuto, ma anche più scontato, Schumann pesca
il verso più evocativo di tutto il brano.
Frankie kicked a mine the day that mankind
kicked the moon
E anche quel I was only nineteen,
che all’inizio pare la solita banalità di circostanza, assume ad ogni
ripetizione più significato e più peso, fino a diventare veramente
insostenibile dopo l’infilata di domande che non trovarono, e non trovano tutt’oggi,
una vera risposta:
And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't
get to sleep?
And night-time's just a jungle dark and a
barking M16?
And what's this rash that comes and goes, can
you tell me what it means?
Non lo sentirete in Forrest Gump, o in Platoon; meno che mai lo
sentirete in TV. Ma è un grande pezzo di cronaca di guerra, da leggere,
ascoltare e non dimenticare.
P.S. Il gruppo donò le royalties per il brano all’associazione dei
Veterani Australiani del Vietnam
L’Australia impegnò in Vietnam
circa 47000 soldati; i morti furono circa 500, i feriti oltre 2000.
I reduci non furono una
prerogativa solo dell’America ma spesso la memoria è corta.
Attualmente in Afghanistan sono
impegnati oltre 50.000 militari provenienti da decine di nazioni diverse. Circa 4000 sono italiani.
Perché?
Mum and Dad and Denny saw the passing-out
parade at Puckapunyal
It was a long march from cadets.
The sixth battalion was the next to tour, and
it was me who drew the card.
We did Canungra, Shoalwater before we left.
And Townsville lined the footpaths as we
marched down to the quay
This clipping from the paper shows us young and
strong and clean.
And there's me in me slouch hat with me SLR and
greens.
God help me, I was only nineteen.
From Vung Tau, riding Chinooks, to the dust at
Nui Dat
I've been in and out of choppers now for
months.
But we made our tents a home, VB and pinups on
the lockers
And an Agent orange sunset through the scrub.
And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't
get to sleep?
And night-time's just a jungle dark and a
barking M16?
And what's this rash that comes and goes, can
you tell me what it means?
God help me, I was only nineteen.
A four week operation, when each step can mean
your last one on two legs
It was a war within yourself
But you wouldn't let your mates down 'til they
had you dusted off
So you closed your eyes and thought about
somethin' else
And then someone yelled out
"Contact!" and the bloke behind me swore
We hooked in there for hours, then a God
almighty roar
Frankie kicked a mine the day that mankind
kicked the moon,
God help me, he was going home in June.
I can still see Frankie, drinking tinnies in
the Grand Hotel
On a thirty-six hour rec leave in Vung Tau
And I can still hear Frankie, lying screaming
in the jungle
'Til the morphine came and killed the bloody
row.
And the Anzac legends didn't mention mud and
blood and tears
And the stories that my father told me never
seemed quite real.
I caught some pieces in my back that I didn't
even feel
God help me, I was only nineteen.
And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't
get to sleep?
And why the Channel Seven chopper chills me to
my feet?
And what's this rash that comes and goes, can
you tell me what it means?
God help me, I was only nineteen.
God help me, I was only nineteen.
Redgum – I Was Only
19 (A Walk In The Light Green) Epic – ES 844 (Australia) 1983
Ref.:
Mappa delle Operazioni in Vietnam tratta da:
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