19

About 19

"19" is a song by British musician Paul Hardcastle released as the first single from his self-titled third studio album Paul Hardcastle (1985). The song has a strong anti-war message, focusing on America's involvement in the Vietnam War and the effect it had on the soldiers who served. The track was notable for early use of sampled and processed speech, in particular a synthesized stutter effect used on the words 'nineteen' and 'destruction'. It also includes various non-speech, re-dubbed sampling, such as crowd noise and a military bugle call. "19" features sampled narration (voiced by Peter Thomas), out-of-context interview dialogue ("I wasn't really sure what was going on") and news reports from Vietnam Requiem the ABC television documentary about the post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by Vietnam veterans. In 2009, the song placed at 73 on VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80s."19" had huge international success in the charts; it went to No. 1 in the UK for five weeks, as well as a number of other countries worldwide. "19" became the top-selling single in 13 countries for 1985. This was helped by the fact that versions of the song, spoken by well-known local news anchors, were recorded in French, Spanish, German and Japanese. The song received the Ivor Novello award for Best-selling single of 1985. The song's English-language release came in three different 12" versions - "Extended Version", "Destruction Mix" and "The Final Story", all with an alternative cover design. more »

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They fought the longest war in American history
They fought the longest war in American history

In 1965 Vietnam seemed like just another foreign war, 
but it wasn't.
It was different in many ways, as so were those that did the fighting.
In World War II the average age of the combat soldier was 26
In Vietnam he was 19.
In inininininin Vietnam he was 19.

The shooting and fighting of the past two weeks continued today
25 miles west of Saigon
I really wasn't sure what was going on

Nininini Nineteen, 19, Ni-nineteen 19
19,19,19,19

In Vietnam the combat soldier typically served a twelve month tour of duty but
was exposed to hostile fire almost everyday
Ninininininininininin 19 nininininninin 19

Hundreds of Thousands of men who saw heavy combat in Vietnam were arrested
since discharge
Their arrest rate is almost twice that of non-veterans of the same age.
There are no accurate figures of how many of these men have been incarcerated. 
But, a Veterans Administration study concludes that the greater of Vets
exposure to combat could more likely affect his chances of being arrested or
convicted.

This is one legacy of the Vietnam War

All those who remember the war
They won't forget what they've seen
Destruction of men in their prime
whose average was 19
Dedededededede-Destruction
Dedededededede-Destruction
War, War
Dededede-Destruction, wa-wa-War, wa-War, War
Dedededededede-Destruction
War, War

After World War II the Men came home together on troop ships, but the Vietnam
Vet often arrived home within 48 hours of jungle combat
Perhaps the most dramatic difference between World War II and Vietnam was
coming home, none of them received a hero's welcome
None of them received a heroes welcome, none of them, none of them
Nenene Nenene None of them, none of them, none of them (etc)
None of them received a hero's welcome
None of them received a hero's welcome

According to a Veteran's Administration study
Half of the Vietnam combat veterans suffered from what Psychiatrists call
Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder
Many vets complain of alienation, rage, or guilt
Some succumb to suicidal thoughts 
Eight to Ten years after coming home almost eight-hundred-thousand men are
still fighting the Vietnam War

Dedededededede-Destruction
 
Nininininininininin Nineteen, 19, Ni-nineteen 19
19,19,19,19
Nininininininininin Nineteen, 19, Ni-nineteen 19
19,19,19,19

When we came back it was different
Everybody wants to know "How'd it
happened to those guys over there 
There's gotta be something wrong somewhere
We did what we had to do
There's gotta be something wrong somewhere
People wanted us to be ashamed of what it made us
Dad had no idea what he went to fight and he is now
All we want to do is come home
All we want to do is come home
What did we do it for
All we want to do is come home
Was it worth it?

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Paul Hardcastle

Paul Hardcastle (born 10 December 1957, London, England) is an English composer and musician, specialising in the synthesizer. more »

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