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Canción para un niño de Viet Nam

Judith Reyes
Language: Spanish


Judith Reyes

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Los Restos de Don Porfirio

Political activist and musician Judith Reyes, born 22 March 1924, in Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas, Mexico, she died on 27 December 1988. The track "Cancion para un niño de Vietnam", which means "Song for a Child From Vietnam" takes an anti-war position, looking at the Vietnamese perspective, refering to the US soldiers that arrived from a distant land "that wounds and kills and burns your rice paddies". The narrator strongly condemned the American presence: "the gringo is the shame of humanity, if the gringo leaves you will see me happy".

The back of the picture sleeve expressed anti-American, anti-imperialist sentiment, showing solidarity with Vietnam and countries across Central and South America:

"the voice and the word of each verse of Judith Reyes are the instrument of the anxieties and urgent needs for justice, peace and freedom of the people of Mexico whom she loves so much. And, in her desperate impatience, she also calls with her songs to other peoples of the world; Viet Nam, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Nicaragua, to share with them those desires and thus make the sentence of condemnation against Yankee imperialism more universal; 'shame of humanity', sole culprit of all our misadventures".

"La voz y la palabra de cado verso de Judith Reyes son el instrumento de las ansias ye las urgentes necesidadesde de justicia, paz y libertad del pueblo de Mexico al que ella tanto ama. Y, en su desesperado impaciencia, llama tambien con sus cantos a otros pueblos del mundo; Viet Nam, Cuba, Venezuala, Colombia, Nicaragua, para compartir con ellos esos anhelos y hacer asi mas universal la frase condenatoria contra el imperialismo yanqui; 'verguenza de la humanidad', culpable unico de todas neustras desventuras"



The sleeve descriped the song as follows:

"Song for a child from Vietnam" is a tender and moving lullaby that, paradoxically, contains a heartbreaking accusation against the shameful US imperialist invasion of that country".

(Spanish: "Cancion para un niño de Vietnam", es una tierna y conmovedora cancion de cuna que, paradojicamente encierra una acusaion desgarradora contra la vergonzante invasion imperialista yanqui en ese pueblo").


For the lyrics below: Transcription by Eric Silberberg and Ignacia Morales Reyes. Translation by Eric Silberberg.

Vietnam War Song Project
Don Din Don Dan
Como campana de bronce
Don Din Don Dan
Tu nombre salgo que late
Vietnam Vietnam
Muy fuerte pa’ el combate
Y mucho más
para el dolor y el amor

Don Din Don Dan
Que dulce es el acorde
Don Din Don Dan
En que se ‘lasa tu nombre
Vietnam Vietnam
Hoy lo repite doliente
Don Din Don Dan
El mundo en su alrededor

Llegó de lejanas tierras
De América tras los mares
El hombre que hiere y mata
Y quema tus arrozales
Veneno sopló en el aire
Hundió la tierra tu paso
Ametralló en las montañas
Al hijo de tu regazo

Ay

Si el gringo está aquí
Que calamidad
El gringo es vergüenza
De la humanidad
Si el gringo se va
Feliz me verás
Porque ahora mi amor
Viviremos en paz
Porque ahora tu y yo
Viviremos en paz
Porque ahora en Vietnam
Viviremos en paz
Porque ahora en Saigon
Viviremos en paz
Porque ahora en Vietnam
Viviremos en paz
Don Din Vietnam Don Dan

2021/8/15 - 20:22



Language: English

English Translation by Eric Silberberg
SONG FOR A CHILD FROM VIETNAM

Don Din Don Dan
Like a bell of bronze
Don Din Don Dan
Your name beats out
Vietnam Vietnam
Very strong for combat
And much more for pain and love

Don Din Don Dan
How sweet is the chord
Don Din Don Dan
That unites your name
Vietnam Vietnam
Today it painfully repeats
Don Din Don Dan
Around the world

Arrived from distance lands
From America beyond the seas
The man that wounds and kills
And burns your rice paddies
Poison blew in the air
The earth sank under your step
Machine gunned in the mountains
To the son in your lap

Ay

If the gringo is here
What a calamity
The gringo is the shame
Of humanity
If the gringo leaves
You will see me happy
Because now my love
We will live in peace
Because now you and I
We will live in peace
Because now in Vietnam
We will live in peace
Because now in Saigon
We will live in peace
Because now in Vietnam
We will live in peace
Don Din Vietnam Don Dan

2021/8/15 - 20:27




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