19 (song)
| "19" | ||||||||
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| Single by Paul Hardcastle | ||||||||
| from the album Paul Hardcastle | ||||||||
| B-side | "Fly by Night" | |||||||
| Released | 17 February 1985 | |||||||
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| Recorded | 1984 | |||||||
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| Label | Chrysalis | |||||||
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| Producer(s) | Paul Hardcastle | |||||||
| Paul Hardcastle singles chronology | ||||||||
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"19" is a song by British musician Paul Hardcastle released as the first single from his self-titled third studio album Paul Hardcastle (1985).
The song has a strong anti-war message, focusing on America's involvement in the Vietnam War and the effect it had on the soldiers who served. The track was notable for early use of sampled and processed speech, in particular a synthesized stutter effect used on the words 'nineteen' and 'destruction'. It also includes various non-speech, re-dubbed sampling, such as crowd noise and a military bugle call.
"19" features sampled narration (voiced by Peter Thomas), out-of-context interview dialogue ("I wasn't really sure what was going on") and news reports from Vietnam Requiem the ABC television documentary about the post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by Vietnam veterans. In 2009, the song placed at 73 on VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80s.
"19" had huge international success in the charts; it went to No. 1 in the UK (for five weeks), a number of other countries worldwide, and reached number 15 in the US Pop Charts and number 1 in the US Dance and Club charts. "19" became the top-selling single in 13 countries. This was helped by the fact that versions of the song, spoken by well-known local news anchors, were recorded in French, Spanish, German and Japanese. The song received the Ivor Novello award for Best-selling single of 1985. The song's English-language release came in three different 12" versions - "Extended Version", "Destruction Mix" and "The Final Story", each with an alternative cover design.
Hardcastle was inspired to create the song after watching Vietnam Requiem, and comparing his own life at 19 to those of the soldiers featured: "...what struck me was how young the soldiers were: the documentary said their average age was 19. I was out having fun in pubs and clubs when I was 19, not being shoved into jungles and shot at."
The title "19" comes from the documentary's claim that the average age of an American combat soldier in the war was 19, as compared to World War II's 26. This claim has since been disputed. Undisputed statistics do not exist, although Southeast Asia Combat Area Casualties Current File (CACCF), the source for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, shows a large number of deaths (38%) were ages 19 or 20. According to the same source, 23 is the average age at time of death (or time of declaration of death). The song also comments that while the tour of duty was longer during World War II, soldiers in Vietnam were subjected to hostile fire [more frequently] almost every day.
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Wikipedia