The two weeks of my leave flew by, but there was time to get really close to my father for the first time. She told me she knew there was nothing she could do about my going to Vietnam, but she didn’t spare me her grief. We were practical enough to recognise the value of experience, and about ten of us attached ourselves to a man named Ray, who had visited Singapore when he was serving in Malaya. Just a little rain, just a little rain. The crowd, I am told, applauded. ‘If he’s old enough to go and bloody well fight for his bloody country,’ Dad proclaimed proudly (and loudly), ‘then he’s old enough to have a bloody drink!’ Never mind that the letter of the law was on their side: I was, after all, still only nineteen and the legal drinking age then was twenty-one. "What Have They Done To The Rain" (Malvina Reynolds) Verse 1: E F#m B Just a little rain falling all around B7 E The grass lifts its head to the heavenly sound C#m G#m Just a little rain, just a little rain A B What have they done to the rain Verse 2: E F#m B Just a little boy standing in the rain B7 E The gentle rain that falls for years C#m G#m And the grass is gone, the boy disappears A E And rain keeps falling like helpless tears A B And what have they done … I signalled that I was impressed, but at that stage, I knew nothing whatsoever about the French involvement in South Vietnam, so the importance escaped me. Quite soon, the excitement had been replaced by tedium, and most dozed, or tried to. But those doing analysis, particularly analysis on what the disaster means for other nuclear facilities, have simply parroted the nuclear industry's fact sheets -- "nothing to worry about here." One Bombardier I knew, Don Donaldson, had pre-arranged a signal with his wife. We were on our way. Other than that, we practised ambush drills and the skills of jungle patrolling. Here we had a group who were taking the moral high ground against us and they didn’t have the enough of the courage of their convictions even to go hungry for a few days. Every one of us was anxious to be the next gunner on the plane. I could never really see the justification for this, but didn’t say anything about it at the time. Just a little rain falling all around. There was nothing mixed about Mum’s feelings. The ‘marrieds’ were conspicuously quiet. But no way did it put a dampener on our eagerness to go and do our bit. For those who were chosen, there was a two-week stint of specialised training, and then a spell of embarkation leave. Just a little rain falling all around. There were about five of us and we were spoiling for a confrontation. The leader of our push was a fellow named Danny McCort. Oh, it's [Am] just a little rain, oh, it's [C] just a little rain. I’m bound to say I didn’t really give their feelings much thought: all I could think about was the adventure ahead. Nor were we left to our own devices. Needless to say, that started us. It didn’t help that his English was as limited as my French, but he managed through hand gestures, facial expressions and a smattering of words to convey something of the adventure. "What Have They Done To The Rain". a.k.a. What Have They Done to the Rain Melanie. Back at the Depot, however, all such qualms vanished. Like the rest of the overlooked, I got on with my job, consoling myself with the thought that this war was unlikely to be over in a hurry: if I worked hard at impressing the bosses, my turn would come. Some text on this site is available for re-use – please contact us. For a fresh-faced Kiwi whose only previous experience of the Orient was buying fruit and vegetables from Chinese greengrocers in Christchurch, Singapore was a full-scale culture shock. My morale went right down the tubes. "Rain Song" and "Just a Little Rain." In fact, nearly half of those who went in the original contingent were from outside the Battery, and the position I had hoped to fill — Driver-Operator — was filled by a member of the Signallers Corps. The door was opened, and we stepped one by one down the ramp and out into the tropical heat, for most of us, our first experience of it. Thoughts of danger just didn’t enter your head. For us, Vietnam represented the chance for the adventure of a lifetime. By now, of course, the Battery had sustained its first casualties. He proceeded to fill them in on the shortcomings in their pedigree, and announced that I was off to Vietnam on active service. Army rules stated that if you were under twenty, your parents had to provide written permission before you could be considered to go. What have they done to the rain? Then, when the pubs closed, we decamped to the legendary Bugis Street, which didn’t open until midnight but really jumped when it did. INTRO: Am G F [C] Just a little rain, [F] falling all a [G] round. When the contingent members reassembled after leave, the Battery was placed on permanent standby. With Lisa Harrow, Christian Quadflieg, Christiane Krüger, Dawn Addams. The Australian officials processed us quickly and we were loaded aboard trucks and whisked into town to our accommodation, the Papua Hotel. Just a little breeze out of the sky. Window seats were out of the question: there are one or two little portholes in the fuselage, but little could be seen. Just a little breeze out of the sky. Ray didn’t let us settle into the UJ for long, however: with only one night in Singapore, he reckoned we should pack in as much as possible, and we needed little persuasion. The Searchers Lyrics. Kiwi!’. It wasn’t until I was on the plane that the whole thing hit me. Just a little rain, just a little rain. "What Have They Done to the Rain" is a song by Malvina Reynolds. Incidentally, while I was in South Vietnam, my mother apparently had her own run-in with the anti-war crowd. Composed in 1962 and first entitled "Rain Song", it was written as part of a campaign to stop nuclear testing in the atmosphere, which was producing fall-out. The Americans had been courting the Australian and New Zealand governments since the early sixties in their drive to secure international involvement in their action in South-East Asia. Every young man grows up spoiling for a bit of an adventure. No one fooled them, to the best of my knowledge: perhaps this is where Alan Pease learned all about body language. The only people who were showing any misgivings were the ‘marrieds’, many of whom had young families. The gentle rain that falls for years. Just a little breeze with some smoke in its eye. Just prior to taking their leave, the fortunate ones — as we rather naively thought them — were told that they were soon to be deployed to South Vietnam,. After a fair wait, during which there were the various thumps and rattles of gear being loaded, the door was swung shut and bolted and the engines fired up. - Malvina Reynolds - YouTube She resented the fact that I hadn’t asked for her approval for my volunteering — I think there are still traces of that even now, thirty-six years later — but she wouldn’t have given it anyway. Gradually, we became aware that the Battery had been divided into two groups — those who were going and those who weren’t. Every son’s mother has to deal with the severing of the apron strings, with seeing their boy all grown up and making decisions for himself. The grass lifts its head to the heavenly sound. This group tended to be easily recognised by their traditional garb and — I kid you not — the bones through their noses. Danny did a bit of snooping while we were keeping the demonstrators occupied and he found that the supposed ‘hunger strike’ was a farce. Composed in 1962 and first entitled "Rain Song", it was written as part of a campaign to stop nuclear testing in the atmosphere, which was producing fall-out. Billets had been arranged for us at the RAF barracks. Of course, the cat got out of the bag in pretty short order and they found out who we were, but apart from a fair bit of verbal abuse, not much else happened. What Have They Done To The Rain chords The Searchers * E F#m B Just a little rain, falling all around B7 E The grass lifts its head to the heavenly sound C#m G#m Just a little rain, just a l Few of us had more than the vaguest notion of what it was all about. The song was recorded by The Searchers, reaching number 29 on the U.S. charts and number 13 in the UK[1] in 1965. Soon they were to go ‘all the way,’ as the Aussie prime minister, Harry Holt famously put it, ‘with LBJ’, even re-introducing conscription. Melanie Safka - What Have They Done To The Rain CAPO: 4th Fret INTRO: Am G F C F G Just a little rain, falling all around G7 C The grass lifts its head to the heavenly sound Am C Oh, it's ju The song was recorded by the composer and issued by Columbia on the 1967 album Malvina Reynolds Sings the Truth (reissued on CD by Omni in 2008).[4]. We oohed and aahed at the appropriate moments in his story, drank Australian beer and enjoyed the moment. We had been warned that we must bargain for everything, and that we must keep our money safe in our pockets at all times. Contact VietnamWar.govt.nz. Watch the video for What Have They Done To The Rain from Marianne Faithfull's Marianne Faithfull for free, and see the artwork, lyrics and similar artists. From the moment that moist, hot air enveloped me, I loved it. Excitement mounted again as we began our descent, and soon enough, we thumped onto the airstrip in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, where we were to stop overnight. Many of us had close relatives — dad, granddads and uncles — who had fought in ‘WW1 or WW2’, and we had grown up with their war stories. Directed by Freddie Francis. I could hardly sit still. He was, by all accounts, playing to a bit of a crowd. People opened their daily newspaper, The Press, in my hometown of Christchurch on the morning of May 27, 1965, and read on the front page that New Zealand was at last to make a combat contribution to the escalating conflict in Vietnam. What have they done to the rain. As far as I was concerned, when 161 Battery left for Vietnam, I would be on the plane. We’d heard vague rumours about Singapore from some of the old-timers who had served in Borneo and Malaya. Conversation was impossible over the roar of the engines. What Have They Done to the Rain Lyrics. Now we were going to write some stories of our own. I’d never fired a shot in anger, but I felt like a conquering hero — Gunner Duggan, defender of the Free World, Liberator of Red South-East Asia. Whatever the answer, those departing weren’t even permitted to tell their families. Once aboard, you found a place — one of the red webbing seats on either side of the plane, facing inwards — and strapped yourself in. And rain keeps falling like helpless tears And what have they done to the rain. The Papua was comfortable and we got to see the locals from close range. She apparently let this fellow have his say and then, raising her own voice for the benefit of the onlookers, floored him by announcing that her son was serving in Vietnam and that she was proud of him. The agreement was that we weren’t going to let them know who we were: it was purely a ‘s**t-stirring’ exercise. Singapore couldn’t come soon enough. But as soldiers, we were more than happy to leave the politics to the politicians. She gave me both barrels, and was very weepy. In the 50’s, nuclear fallout from atom bomb testing was determined to be “Just a Gentle Rain,” non lethal to humans. Those reporters who are actually in Japan, reporting on the situation, have done the best job possible with the inadequate and inaccurate information that they have been able to get. Most of the patrons were servicemen from New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom, and the atmosphere was sheer magic. In the event, the single man’s tour of duty was decreased when I was about two-thirds of the way through my stint, first to fifteen months, then a little later to twelve. Mum, of course, was inconsolable, and Marilyn cried, too, with Kaye looking on solemnly. In May, 1965, Holyoake caved in and announced that New Zealand would commit an artillery battery. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. A series of O-Groups (‘Orders Groups’, or briefings) took place, and those of us who weren’t involved began to fear the worst. Of course, we knew a little ahead of everyone else. Our training was also intended to prepare us for Vietnam. When she received them, she would know he was in South Vietnam. But the US kept up the pressure on Keith Holyoake and his National government, and we in the Army were not the only ones who thought New Zealand was beginning to look bad compared to the Aussies. After the torpor of our long flight, we were raring to go, and although we only had one night in Singapore, it was all ahead of us. I’m sure I’m right when I say we were, to a man, gutted, each of us understanding how it must have been for an All Black squad member when the test side was read out and didn’t include his name. The ensuing explosion shook the s**t out of the vehicle and caused the driver to swear in two languages, one for the benefit of the locals who had thrown the cracker and the other for ours. It looks melodramatic written down, but it was the first time that it occurred to me that I had no idea what lay in wait for me in Vietnam. The odd beam of light from the streetlights illuminated our faces, excited, preoccupied, and nervous. Suddenly, even our officers didn’t seem so bad. We left New Guinea early the following morning bound for Singapore, a twelve-hour journey this time. I was only nineteen at the time, but it never seriously occurred to me that this would be an obstacle to my going. Jungle warfare, of course, was a horse of a different colour: artillery Driver-Operators lost their Land-rovers and had to foot it with the rest of them, but the name remained. Melanie - What Have They Done To The Rain CAPO: 4th Fret INTRO: Am G F C F G Just a little rain, falling all around G7 C The grass lifts its head to the heavenly sound Am C Oh, it's just a little rain, oh, it's just a little rain F Am G And what have they done to the rain? What have they done to the rain? As our departure grew imminent, the excitement ratcheted up. Just a little boy standing in the rain The gentle rain that falls for years After the paper war had been won — the amount of documentation to be tackled had to be seen to be believed — and just before my departure, I was given leave, and like most of my comrades, I chose to go home. And what have they done to the rain. The streets were packed with people on foot, on bicycles, hauling handcarts or leaning on the horns of cars. The Australians had responded by sending a token force of ‘advisers’ along with a small amount of arms and ammunition in 1962, but then they’d had a change of heart, committing a full battalion in 1965. Just a little boy standing in the rain. 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