I do love it when things piece together, it was one of the reasons that the LP Blog started – to document findings and to build this great big musical database…which is forever ongoing! Today’s song is linked to a song I featured way back in 2017, when I covered “See What You Done Done (Hymn No. 9)” by Delia Gartrell. This was written by Delia Gartrell and her husband, James T. Shaw, a.k.a The Mighty Hannibal!
Up until this point in his career, The Mighty Hannibal was known for his more light hearted R&B/soul/funk compositions, but Hymn No.5 changed everything and reshaped his career. It has since become one of his most well-known songs – even though it was banned from most radio stations!
It was 1966 when Shaw wrote one of his first black, anti-Vietnam and anti-war songs. Known for his showmanship and outlandish costumes, he would often appear on stage dressed in a turban and in a pink, lilac or orange robe with one mission – to have fun. The ongoing issued in Vietnam had a profound effect on him and ultimately shaped and redirected his musical direction to an extent. Hymn No.5 was issued on Jubilee Records subsidiary label, Josie in 1966 and was the first of a few songs that Hannibal wrote with more serious social and political theme. Check it out above and find the lyrics below.
Wrote my baby from Vietnam
and this is what I said,
I want to see you
(You know that)
I want to see you
I want to see you
(Yes I do, now)
Yes, I do.
Sleeping in these foxholes
Hungry and cold
I had a dream last night
I dreamed I saw you
(You know that I)
I dreamed I saw you
(Yes, I did, yeah)
I dreamed I saw you
(Yeah, I want to say that I)
(I dreamed, a dream)
Yes, I did.
I want somebody
to tell my mother
And go down yonder in Georgia
and tell my father
that I’m way over here
crawling in these trench-holes,
covered with blood,
but one thing that I know:
There’s no tomorrow,
There’s no tomorrow,
There’s no tomorrow —
they’ll bury me.
I want everybody
in the sound of my voice this evening
to help me sing this hymn number five.
I want you to moan one time.
(humming chorus)
Sometimes I wonder,
I wonder what was it that I did?
I tried to be a good father,
I did the best that I could.
And I wonder, who’s going to take care of my kids?
I’m a long way from home, children.
But I want the world to know
the one thing that I did.
I’m gone for good.
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