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Ballad
of the Green Berets
The
"Ballad of the Green Berets" is a patriotic song in
the ballad style about the Green Berets, an elite special operations
force in the U.S. Army. The song was was written by Robin Moore
and Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler, while the latter was recuperating
from a leg wound suffered as a medic in the Vietnam War. Moore
wrote a non-fiction book, The Green Berets about the
force.
The recording
of the song was the number one hit in the United States for five
weeks in 1966 and was the number 21 song of 1960-1969. It has
sold over nine million singles and albums. It was the top single
of the year in which the British Invasion led by the Beatles and
the Rolling Stones dominated the charts. The song is also heard
in the John Wayne film The Green Berets which was based
on Moore's book.
The pro-war song was parodied by Billy Bragg in his, "The
Marching Song Of The Covert Battalions." Another parody was
used on Saturday Night Live in 1986, "Ollie North, The Mute
Marine" as a satire of Oliver North and his then-current
refusal to speak up about his participation in the Iran-Contra
Affair.
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