" I WAS ONLY 19" -JOHN SCHUMANN © KRIS RALPH 2005

(FRAMED PASTEL)

John Schumann was the lead singer and principle songwriter of a band called ""REDGUM' in the 1970'-80's. Stauanchly Australlian, they had a Hit songs with "i've Been To Bali Too" and the anthemic song " I Was Only 19".

"i Was Only 19" was the spur for the Royal Commission which lead to the Vietnam Veteran's Welcome Home March in Sydney on 1987.

From 1998- 2001 John was the Chief of Staff for the then leader of the Australian Democrats.

Canberra band " The Herd" released a cover version of "I Was Only 19" in March 2006 It went straight to ABC's Triple J's Top 10 .

I WAS ONLY 19(A Walk in the Light Green)-© John Schumann

Mum and Dad and Denny saw the passing out parade at Puckapunyal,
(1t was long march from cadets).
The Sixth Battalion was the next to tour and it was me who drew the card…
We did Canungra and Shoalwater before we left.
And Townsville lined the footpath as we marched down to the quay;
This clipping from the paper shows us young and strong and clean;
And there's me in my slouch hat, with my SLR and greens…
God help me, I was only nineteen.
From Vung Tau riding Chinooks to the dust at Nui Dat,
I'd been in and out of choppers now for months.
But we made our tents a home, VB and pin-ups on the lockers,
and an Asian 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 could 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 something else.
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.
1 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.
'Till the morphine came and killed the bloody row
And the Anzac legends didn't mention mud and blood and tears,
and 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.

The Herd have recently released a new version of " I Was Only 19" which you can hear on the JJJ website

http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/